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With a spike in new construction of multi-family homes more than offsetting a continued decrease in new construction of single-family homes, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing a substantial increase in U.S. housing starts in the month of November.
The Commerce Department said housing starts jumped by 3.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.256 million in November from the revised October estimate of 1.217 million.
Economists had expected housing starts to edge down to a rate of 1.225 million from the 1.228 million originally reported for the previous month.
The report also said building permits surged up by 5.0 percent to an annual rate of 1.328 million in November from the revised October rate of 1.265 million.
Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, had been expected to dip to a rate of 1.259 million from the 1.263 million originally reported for October.
