Starts down, rest of market sturdy. (Business Today).(housing market)

Home Textiles Today, June, 2003 by Hogsett, Don

NEW YORK -- Staying the course despite a soft economy and a weak employment outlook, the broad U.S. housing market turned in a sturdy performance during April, with two of the three market segments--existing and new home sales--both making gains. But hedging their bets and still acting antsy about the market's buying activity going forward, the nation's home builders pulled back during the month, and so housing starts tumbled by 6.8 percent beneath March revised numbers.

But even with the drop, housing starts are still up by 2.7 percent from year-ago levels, the U.S. Commerce Department reported. The strong sales, better than some economists had expected, helped stifle fears raised by a February decline that the housing market could be a bubble...

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