According to the US Census Bureau, new construction surged in March 2018 but this search did not include an important niche within the industry, single-family housing.
Housing starts for privately-owned homes in March were posted at 1.319 million. This is 1.9% above the estimate for February and nearly 11% higher than housing starts for March 2017 which came in at 1.189 million.
Privately-owned housing completions for March 2018 came in at a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.217 million this is approximately 1.9% above March 2017 which was 1.194 million.
Information within the report showed some additional positive news: the housing starts that were released for February were upwardly revised by nearly 5% from 1.236 million to 1.295 million.
As the census report indicates Trends maybe signaling a relief to some degree of the housing supply shortage. This also demonstrates that the construction industry is seeing a very positive trend moving forward in terms of building, even though they are not over-extending themselves in terms of expensive activity. There is also a correlation between housing starts and construction employment. Obviously construction jobs have increased significantly.