Home Construction Declines Nationwide

Housing construction declined slightly in March from a 10-year high the month before as builders struggled to keep up with buying demand fueled by plentiful jobs and low mortgage rates.

Home builders started construction of new housing units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.59 million, down 2.8 percent from February, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Single-family housing starts fell 2.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.24 million. Apartment building starts declined 3.8 percent to 352,000 units.

But it was the seventh consecutive month that total starts exceeded 1.5 million, the longest such string in nearly 11 years. And, despite the March decline, starts for the first three months of this year were 9.9 percent higher than the same period of last year.