Housing Starts Up. Permits Drop

Washington, DC, May 16, 2007--Housing starts rose 2.5 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.528 million, according to the Commerce Department. Building permit however dropped by 8.9 percent to a pace of 1.429 million units during the month.

Analysts were expecting starts to increase only to a rate of 1.490 million.

Even though housing starts increased in April to the highest pace since December 2006, they were down 16 percent from a year ago and, in a sign the troubled housing market may not be turning the corner as quickly as hoped, building permits were off 28.1 percent from a year ago.

Starts increased 31 percent in the Northeast were and 7.8 percent in the West. They fell 14 percent in the Midwest and were flat in the South.