U.S. housing starts rise more than forecast in October

The Commerce Department reported on Wednesday the housing starts climbed by 4.9 percent m-o-m in September to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.530 million (the highest since February), while building permits unchanged at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.545.

Economists had forecast housing starts increasing to a pace of 1.460 million units last month and building permits rising to a pace of 1.560 million units.

Data for September was revised to show homebuilding growing to a pace of 1.459 million units, instead of increasing at a rate of 1.415 million units as previously reported.

According to the report, permits for single-family homes, the largest segment of the market, rose 0.6 percent m-o-m to a rate of 1.120 million units in October, while approvals for the multi-family homes segment declined 1.6 percent m-o-m to a 425,000 unit-rate.

In the meantime, groundbreaking on single-family homes jumped 6.4 percent m-o-m to a rate of 1.179 million units in October, while housing starts for the multi-family remained unchanged m-o-m at a 351,000 -unit pace.