Up, up, up

Home building ticked up unexpectedly in March, according to an article on CNNmoney.com, but economists cautioned that a look inside the numbers shows the worst is far from over for the battered housing sector. Housing starts rose to an annual pace of 1.52 million in March, the Census Bureau reported, from a revised 1.51 million rate in February. Economists had forecast the pace of building would slow to a 1.5 million rate in March. Housing starts and permits showed an increase in March, but the report may have been distorted by the effect of weather in the Midwest. But most of the country saw a decline from February's pace of housing starts. The South, which accounts for about half the nation's home building, showed a 3 percent decline, and building fell nearly 8 percent in both the Northeast and West. The exception to that trend was the Midwest, where starts jumped 44 percent in the Midwest after a February reading that was the slowest in 16 years. Bad weather in the region in February and relatively good weather in March probably played a role in the jump, as builders tried to catch up with delayed projects. Your comment?