California housing construction rallied in March.

The increase in California housing production after two consecutive slow months was reported by the California Building Industry Assn. Led by single-family building, the number of housing permits issued rose 21.8% from February, the association said. But the March annual rate of 283,000 units was 10.1% lower than the rate for March of last year. For single-family homes, 159,200 permits were taken out, an increase of 22.4% from February and an increase of 33.3% from March, 1986. For apartment and condominium units, the annual rate in March was 124,000 permits, an increase of 21.1% over February but a drop of 36.5% from February, 1986.