U.S. housing starts soar 20.2% in April

The U.S. Commerce Department released the housing market data on Tuesday. Housing starts in the U.S. soared 20.2% to 1,135 million annualized rate in April from a 944,000 pace in March, exceeding expectations for a rise to 1.019 million. It was the highest level since November 2007.

March's figure was revised up from 926,000 units.

The increase was driven by a gain in starts of single-family homes, which jumped to their highest level since January 2008.

Building permits in the U.S. climbed 10.1% to 1.143 million annualized rate in April from a 1.038 million pace in March. March's figure was revised down from 1,042 million units.

Analysts had expected building permits to increase to 1.064 million units.

Starts of single-family homes jumped 16.7% in April. Building permits for single-family homes rose 3.7%.

Starts of multifamily buildings rose 27.2% in April. Permits for multi-family housing jumped 20.5%.

Housing market seems to pick up as the weakness in first quarter of 2015 seems to be due to harsh weather. But housing market figures are in stark contrast with weakness in consumption, business spending and manufacturing.