Housing starts, permits fall - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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says housing starts fell to an annualk rateof 458,000, led by a 46 percent decline in construction of apartmentsx and condos. Building permits fell 3.3 percentf to 494,000. The Commercr Department also revised lower housing starts datafor March. The slowdown in constructiob follows a report Monday from the that showec confidence among home buildersis rising. Its confidence index, though still indicating the majority of those asked see conditionwsas poor, rose for the secondd straight month this month. It was the highest levep of confidence among home builders ineighy months. Tighter lending standardz continue to strain housing and foreclosures are weighing onhousingb values.
But by some home sales are rising. A gaugs that measures pending sales of existinvg homesrose 3.2 percent in March, and postecd its first consecutive gain in pendinf sales in almost a year.