Washington, DC, January 18, 2007—Housing starts rose 4.5%, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.64 million in December, on strength in apartment construction, according to Commerce Department estimates.
It was the second straight monthly increase for starts, which reached their highest level since September.
Economists were looking for a drop during December to a pace of 1.57 million.
Starts of multifamily housing jumped 42.1% in December to 412,000. This is the biggest gain since April 2005.
Starts rose a revised 6.4% in November to 1.57 million units, down slightly from the initial estimate of a 6.7% gain.
Building permits - a sign of future activity - rose 5.5% to an annual rate of 1.60 million in December from 1.51 million in November.
For all of 2006, housing starts fell 12.9% to 1.80 million, the biggest decline since 1991. Building permits fell 14.9% to 1.83 million in 2006, the largest drop since 1990
Starts of single family homes fell 14.7% in 2006 to 1.46 million.
In December, starts rose 25.6% in the Northeast, 1.8% in the Midwest and 12.4% in the West. They fell 2.0% in the South.
In December, starts of single-family homes fell 4.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.23 million from 1.28 million in November.
Building permits for single-family homes rose 1.2% to 1.16 million in December from 1.15 million in November.
Permits for multifamily units rose 19% to 432,000.
