Earlier this week, the Commerce Department released its monthly report on new housing starts and reported that privately-owned housing starts in March had reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of more than one million units.

This number is 7 percent above the previous month number of 968,000, and a whopping 46.7 percent above the same number from one year ago when March 2012 starts were at 706,0000.

Metro Study, the nation’s leading provider of information regarding the housing industry is reporting that their initial “flash” look at the data, due out in full next week, shows some extremely strong numbers for the first quarter nationwide. Initial reports indicate that some of the markets that fell hardest during the downturn are rebounding the strongest.

The positive psychological effect of all this news should lead to greater consumer confidence among potential homebuyers that the time to buy is now. This is supported in a just released Gallup poll that says 73 percent of Americans think it is a good time to buy a home; this is the highest this number has been since 2003.

The numbers for the Atlanta new homes market will not be released for a few more days. However, the signs are definitely pointing in the direction that many people are deciding that now is the time to buy a new home.