Housing starts rise again

The residential construction surge from September stayed the course in October, as the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts increased to 894,000.

The figure is up 3.6% from a downwardly revised September estimate of 863,000. More impressive, it is up 41.9% from the October 2011 rate of 630,000. Like the September figure, the October figure is the highest since July 2008.

On the single-family housing front, the October rate of 594,000 is 0.2% below the downwardly revised September figure of 595,000.

September’s original housing start estimates were reported as 872,000 total, and 603,000 single-family.

Building permits were down 2.7% in October, coming in at a rate of 866,000. Compared to a year ago, permits are up 29.8%.