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Americans are buying and selling houses and apartments at an unusually high rate, and at higher prices, according to a number of real estate reports. Builders are keeping up the pace by planning, slatting, and completing more residential units.
Housing construction reached a 17-year high last summer, the highest tate since April 1986. If the seasonally adjusted rate holds up, housing starts for 2003 will total 1.87 single- and multi-family units, the Commerce Department reported in August.
That will exceed the total for 2002. Residential construction this yeat is "now very likely to beat last year's healthy housing production of 1.7 million units," says David Seiders, chief economist for the National Association of Home Buildets. Seiders cites "an average rate of 1.76 million housing starts for the first seven months of this year and the considerable strength of the NAHB Housing Market Index."