Housing Starts Up 2nd Month

WASHINGTON — Housing starts rose a modest 1.9% in March, the government said today--the second consecutive monthly gain and fresh evidence that the winter slump in home building was temporary.

After a slump of more than 15% in December, housing starts fell further in January to an annual rate of 1.382 million units, according to the Commerce Department. But economists said a subsequent revised 9.6% rebound in February, followed by the gain in March to an annual rate of 1.543 million units, showed that the midwinter downturn was more a reflection of bad weather and statistical distortions than underlying weakness in housing.