U.S. housing starts surge 22 percent
New U.S. housing starts unexpectedly rebounded in February, surging 22.2 percent, according to data on Tuesday that provided a rare dose of good news for the recession-hit economy and fractured housing market.
That was also the first increase since April last year, when they advanced by 1.6 percent. January's housing starts were revised to a rate of 477,000, the department said.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected an annual rate of 450,000 units for February.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani, Editing by Andrea Ricci)
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