Housing starts soar

New home construction across the country posted the highest rate in almost two years in January, reflecting the same consumer confidence that pushed Charlotte home sales through the multiple listing service up last month.

Housing starts, driven by low interest rates and solid home-price appreciation, rose 6.3 percent to a preliminary annual rate of 1.68 million, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That's the highest since February 2000, topping the 1.6 million rate predicted.

Single-family starts rose 3.5 percent to a rate of 1.35 million units, the highest rate since December of 1999.

The South topped other regions with an increase of 14.4 percent. Starts in the Northeast rose 8.7 percent, and starts in the Midwest and West declined slightly.

Mark Baldwin, the new executive vice president of the Charlotte builders association -- who moved from Atlanta -- said he wasn't surprised that the South led the nation. "The South has been leading for the last six or seven years," he said. "If we have to move anywhere, let's move south. Charlotte is a high-growth, desirable area."

Also, the South traditionally has more affordable home prices than the Northeast and West Coast, he said.

Nationally, new building permits rose 3.1 percent in January to an annualized rate of 1.71 million.