But economists believe the housing industry is still facing significant headwinds as it tries to recover from the steepest slump in decades.
The Commerce Department says construction rose 1.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 626,000 last month. That was higher than the 610,000 level that economists had expected. In addition, the government revised February to show a 1.1 percent gain rather than the initially reported drop of 5.9 percent.
Applications for building permits, considered a good barometer of future activity, also recorded a better-than-expected increase.
