In the continuing quest for better news on U.S. housing markets, it is good to report that April 2008 housing start figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing offer some encouragement. The level of starts was up only slightly versus the previous months, but at least it was back over one million units, on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis. Furthermore, based on the accompanying charts, it appears that three of the four major geographic sub-regions may have bottomed out.