Housing starts in the US soared 19.4 percent month-over-month to an annualized rate of 1.739 million in March of 2021. It is the highest reading since June of 2006, easily beating market expectations of 1.613 million, after harsh winter weather dented activity in February. Single-family housing starts jumped 15.3 percent to 1.238 million and the rate for units in buildings with five units or more increased 30 percent to 477,000. Strong gains were reported in the Northeast (64 percent), Midwest (122.8 percent) and the South (13.5 percent) but starts in the West were down 13.6 percent. The housing market has been supported by low interest rates and increasing demand from people moving away from big cities due to the coronavirus crisis, but the momentum could slow as rising lumber prices amid supply constraints could limit production and ease a shortage of homes. source: U.S. Census Bureau