ABC

The US economy grew in the third quarter for the first time in a year as consumer spending and investment in new home-building rebounded, data has showed, unofficially ending the worst recession in 70 years.

The Commerce Department, in its first estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product, said the economy grew at a 3.5 per cent annual rate, the fastest pace since the third quarter of 2007, after contracting 0.7 per cent in the April-June period.

The growth pace in GDP, which measures total goods and services output within US borders, was above market expectations for a 3.3 per cent rate. The economy last grew in the second quarter of 2008.

Recessions in the United States are dated by the National Bureau of Economic Research and the private-sector group often takes months to make determinations.

The economy slipped into recession at the end of 2007 and has been in the worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Economists say the growth was helped by President Barack Obama's $867 billion stimulus plan.

The US economy was also lifted by the Cash for Clunkers car scrappage scheme, which finished in August.

But unemployment is still high, and experts say the ongoing recovery will be slow.

-ABC/Reuters