WASHINGTON – Housing continues to be the strong factor that's bolstering the U.S. economy. A report released by the Commerce Department on January 21 showed construction rates for new homes and apartments in 2003 peaked in December, closing out the best year for housing since 1978. The Commerce Department said December housing starts rose 1.7% to a seasonally adjusted 2.088 million annual rate, the fastest pace since February 1984. For all of 2003, the total number of housing units that builders broke ground on was 1.85 million, up from 1.70 in 2002. The record for housing starts was set in 1972 when they totaled 2.357 million, according to the Commerce Department.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to CUTimes.com, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited CUTimes.com content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking credit union news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Shared Accounts podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the commercial real estate and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, GlobeSt.com and ThinkAdvisor.com
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
