More housing permits and home starts reflect growing optimism.
New residential construction came in stronger than expected in December 2006, according to the United States Census Bureau and United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. There was an increase in housing permits by 5.5 percent since November 2006. Although this growth is still much less (24.3 percent) than housing permits issued at the same time in 2005, the rise is still an indicator of confidence in the market, as most of the permits issued (27 percent) were for larger, two to four unit projects, while single family permits were only up

1.2 percent.