Housing starts climbed 14.8% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.560 million units, according to Reuters. Economists expected starts to fall to 1.36 million units.
Applications for building permits, a good indication of future activity, fell 2.5% to 1.46 million units in November.
Single-family housing starts jumped 18% to a rate of 1.143 million units, hitting the highest level since April 2022. Multifamily starts climbed 8.9% to a rate of 404,000 units. Building permits for single-family homes rose 0.7% to a rate of 976,000 units, and permits for multifamily homes fell 9.6% to a rate of 435,000 units.
The rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 6.95% during the week of Dec. 11, which is the lowest level since August. Mortgage rates hit a 23-year high of 7.79% in late October.
