New Home Construction Highest in Four Years
Oct 17, 2012 11:06am
(Image credit: Patrick
Fallon/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
U.S. builders started construction on single-family homes and apartments in September at the
fastest rate since July 2008, according to...
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New Home Construction Highest in Four Years
Oct 17, 2012 11:06am
(Image credit: Patrick
Fallon/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
U.S. builders started construction on single-family homes and apartments in September at the
fastest rate since July 2008, according to the Commerce Department.
Builders began work on 872,000 new homes - at a seasonally adjusted rate - in September. That's an
increase of 15 percent from August.
Applications for building permits, a sign of future construction, jumped nearly 12 percent to an
annual rate of 894,000, also the highest since July 2008.
Construction activity is now 82.5 percent higher than the recession low hit in April 2009, but still
below a healthy 1.5 million rate.
New home building has an important ripple effect on the economy as new construction jobs are
created. Once the home is built the economy gets another boost from furniture and appliance
purchases.
This sector of the economy is still working its way up from a deep hole and the weak link for the
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