The housing market took a step forward last month after three steps backwards, reports the Associated Press. The Commerce Department says housing starts went up 5 percent last month but experts say it is a blip because of the dry weather.

The conventional wisdom remains that housing starts will slow under the pressure of rising mortgage rates. And as if to prove the point, new building permits were down 2 percent last month. But is the glass half full or half empty? Standard & Poor’s chief economist tells the paper that housing ”is holding up … better than what we had thought.”

Homebuilders sound more negative. An industry survey released Monday shows they are more are at their lowest point in over a decade, reports Reuters.

The 42 Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index was already in negative territory in May (46) and fell a further four points this month.

As usual the West was the strongest region of the country in the government’s survey but the weather barely affects markets like Las Vegas or Phoenix. The greatest doubt among homebuilders was in the Northeast but big players in the local market like KB have already announced substantial profit downgrades for the rest of the year.