U.S. Housing Starts Climb in March:

The Commerce Department reported that groundbreaking increased 2.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 946,000.

Plus, February's data was actually better than first released. As February's starts were revised to show a 1.9 percent rise rather than the previously reported 0.2 percent fall.

Gaines in home building has been difficult as a brutally cold winter weighed on home building in December and January. Activity has also been hampered by shortages of building lots and skilled labor as well as rising prices for materials.

Groundbreaking for single-family homes, the largest segment of the market, surged 6.0 percent to a 635,000-unit pace last month. Starts for the volatile multi-family homes segment fell 3.1 percent to a 311,000-unit rate.