Home building up 7.2 percent in March

Builders broke ground on more new homes last month, giving the weak housing market a slight boost at the start of the spring buying season.

Home construction nationwide rose 7.2 percent in March from February to a seasonally adjusted 549,000 units, the Commerce Department said yesterday. Building permits, an indicator of future construction, rose 11.2 percent after hitting a five-decade low in February.

Still, the building pace is far below the 1.2 million units a year that economists consider healthy. And March's improvement came after construction fell in February to its second-lowest level on records dating back more than a half-century.

Millions of foreclosures have forced home prices down, and more foreclosures are expected this year.