Housing starts rose 7.2% in January to 1.487 million units, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. MSN reports economists had expected housing starts to decrease 3.9% to 1.35 million.
Applications for building permits, a good indication of future activity, fell 5.4% to 1.376 million units in January.
Single-family housing starts fell 2.8% to a rate of 935,000 units. Multifamily starts surged 29.1% to a rate of 524,000 units. Building permits for single-family homes fell 0.9% to a rate of 873,000 units, and permits for multifamily homes fell 13.4% to a rate of 453,000 units.
The completions rate for the single-family housing segment fell 1% to 970,000 units in January. The completions rate for multifamily housing rose 16.2% to 532,000 units.
The rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage rose to 6.3% during the week ending March 13.
