Housing Starts Rise to Five-Month High

Housing starts rose 0.3% to a five-month high in September, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Starts rose to an annual rate of 610,000 units, the most since April, from a revised 608,000 rate in August that was slightly higher than originally reported.

The level was above economists’ forecasts of a 580,000 rate, Bloomberg reported. Starts were 2.2% higher than a year earlier.

Building permits, an indicator of future activity, fell 5.6% to a 539,000 rate, the lowest in almost a year and half.

Single-family housing projects rose 4.4% to a 452,000 annual pace, while multifamily homes such as townhouses and apartments, fell 9.7% to an annual pace of 158,000.