Apartment construction nears 25-year high

Housing construction saw the highest number of new home starts in eight months in July, with construction of apartment buildings jumping 50 percent over the same period last year, according to statistics released by the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development.
 
Bloomberg Businessweek reports the increase in apartment construction has only been this high twice before in the past 25 years. The average annual rate for new apartment starts is 248,000 since 1989; currently, the rate is 467,000 units.
 
Bloomberg states a current urban housing crunch is spurring the building boom as more people are attracted to larger cities with their better mass transit options and what the news report refers to as "cultural cachet."

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