Housing starts rose 10.8% in March to 1.502 million units, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Economists reportedly had expected a reading of 1.4 million units.
Applications for building permits, a good indication of future activity, fell 10.8% to 1.372 million units in March.
Single-family housing starts climbed 9.7% to a rate of 1.032 million units. Multifamily starts increased 9.6% to a rate of 446,000 units. Building permits for single-family homes fell 3.8% to a rate of 895,000 units, and permits for multifamily homes fell 23.5% to a rate of 427,000 units.
The rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage was 6.23% during the week ending April 24 after starting the month at 6.46%.
