Housing starts climbed 7% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.358 million units, according to Reuters. Economists expected starts to rise to 1.38 million units.
Applications for building permits, a good indication of future activity, fell 4.4% to 1.473 million units in September.
Single-family housing starts rose 3.2% to a rate of 963,000 units, and multifamily starts jumped 17.1% to a rate of 383,000 units. Building permits for single-family homes climbed 1.8% to a rate of 965,000 units, and permits for multifamily homes fell 14.2% to a rate of 459,000 units.
The rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage surged in September, averaging 7.31% during the last week of the month—the highest since late 2000.
