DALLAS (WBAP 24/7 News) - North Texas homebuilders ended 2012 with a bang.

According to Residential Strategies, home starts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area were almost 50 percent higher in the fourth quarter of 2012 than they were a year earlier.

Builders started 4,549 homes in the area - the largest fourth quarter start total in the D-FW area in five years.

Builders had a hard time keeping up with new home  demand last year as the D-FW economy has recovered.

Several years of meager home construction have left the area with a shortage of new houses on the market as the number of purchases has steadily risen.

Builders sold 16,416 new homes in 2012, the largest number since 2009.

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