U.S. builders started work on more single-family homes in May and requested the most permits to build homes and apartments since 2009.
The increase suggests the housing market is slowly recovering even as other areas of the economy have weakened.
Development began on 516,000 one-family houses at an annual rate last month, up 3.2 percent from April and the most this year, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington.
A slump in construction of apartments, which is often volatile, led to an unexpected drop in total housing starts.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that builders broke ground on 3.2 percent more single-family homes in May, the third straight monthly increase.
Overall housing starts fell 4.8 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 708,000. But that was entirely because of a 21.3 percent plunge in apartment construction, which can be volatile from month to month.
he report also said April was much better for housing starts than first thought. The government revised the April starts to 744,000 -- up from an initially reported 717,000 and the fastest building pace since October 2008.
