Housing Starts Climb to Highest Level Since April 2010

Housing starts jumped 9.3% in November to their highest level in more than a year and a half, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Starts climbed to a rate of 685,000 units, from a revised rate of 627,000 in October that was slightly lower than originally estimated.

The gain surpassed economists’ forecasts of a 635,000 rate, Bloomberg reported.

Building permits, an indicator of future construction, jumped to 681,000, the highest since March 2010.

Single-family home starts, which account for about 85% of the total, rose 2.3%.

Work on multifamily units, which is often more volatile, jumped 25% to an annual rate of 238,000.

Starts rose in three of four national regions, led by a 54% surge in the Northeast and a 23% jump in the West. Starts dropped 18% in the Midwest.