Central Texas home starts jump 27% in first quarter via Statesman.com

Central Texas home starts rose nearly 27 percent in the first quarter, as the region’s job growth, low mortgage interest rates and rising apartment rents continued to fuel housing demand.

Builders started construction on 1,952 houses in the first three months of the year, compared with 1,539 in the same period last year, according to Metrostudy, which tracks the numbers. The first quarter jump pushed the annual home starts rate to 8,385 homes for the 12 months that ended in March — up 32 percent from the annual total for the 12 months that ended in March 2012.

“Adding jobs, annually, for nearly three straight years emboldens consumer confidence in the local economy and this is driving the robust demand for housing in the Austin market,” said Madison Inselmann, regional director of Metrostudy’s Austin market.

Read more...Central Texas home starts jump 27% in first quarter via Statesman.com