US government figures show that housing construction picked up in April as the sector recovers from recession.
New home starts rose 5.8% from March to 672,000, higher than the 655,000 expected by most analysts, the Commerce Department said. The department upwardly revised its March number to 635,000 from 626,000. March's pace of construction is the strongest since October 2008, driven by work on single-family homes.
Starts of single-family homes, which represent three-quarters of the housing sector, increased by a strong 10% in April. The multi-family home sector slowed by 18.5% in April but this followed a surge in March.
Permits issued to build homes, an indicator of future activity in the sector, fell in April to 606,000, a decline of 11.5% from the previous month and below analysts' expectations.