Home Building Up and Building Permits Down In January

By Mark Donovan

The Good News - The commerce department reported that home building construction starts were up a healthy 14.6% in January, compared to December.

The Bad News - The commerce department reported that home building construction permits were down 10.4% in the same period.

Though the news was a mixed bag, it's possible that the sagging number of new home construction permits pulled last month was in part due to the heavy snow and cold weather that blanketed much of the country in January. It's also possible that with the significant increase in actual construction starts that builders were too busy focusing on actual building than planning.

One month of data doesn't set a trend, so we will have to wait until spring to see if there is indeed a positive direction in the beleaguered housing construction industry.