With prospects for the housing market looking up, the construction companies are responding. According to the Commerce Department, the construction of new houses and apartment units rose 2.8% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 519,000 units, exceeding the expectations of economists who had been examining the market. Applications for building permits decreased during the month of January, but only after two months of solid gains; overall the seasonally adjusted annual rate was 17% higher than the same time during the previous year. The trend was mirrored nationally and regionally.
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