18.11.202012:41:00UTC+00U.S. Housing Starts Spike More Than Expected In October

New residential construction in the U.S. spiked by more than expected in the month of October, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday.

The report said housing starts surged up by 4.9 percent to an annual rate of 1.530 million in October after soaring by 6.3 percent to an upwardly revised rate of 1.459 million in September.

Economists had expected housing starts to jump by 3.2 percent to a rate of 1.460 million from the 1.415 million originally reported for the previous month.

With the bigger than expected increase, housing starts reached their highest annual rate since coming in at 1.567 million in February.

Meanwhile, the report said building permits came in at an annual rate of 1.545 million in October, virtually unchanged from the revised rate seen in September.

Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, had been expected to rise by 0.5 percent to a rate of 1.560 million from the 1.553 million originally reported for the previous month.