Housing starts jumped 5.8% nationally in April 2010, the month that the Homebuyers Tax Credit expired, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

According to Bob Jones, the Chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), "While some of the starts activity noted in today's report reflected homes for which buyers had just signed a contract at the tail-end of the tax credit program, the rest was probably tied to builders replenishing their inventories in preparation for the post-tax credit era."

Single-family housing starts hit the highest rate since August of 2008, jumping 10.2%, while multi-family starts showed a decline of 18.6%. Through all the good news for single-family housing starts, building permits declined 11.5% in April.

David Crowe, Chief Economist at NAHB stated, "The drop-off in building permits in April indicates that builders are working down the inventory of permits pulled in the previous month and taking care not to get ahead of the market."