By Jann Swanson | Mortgage News Daily
Housing permits improved for the second straight month in October but housing starts skyrocketed, rising 25.5 percent above September’s level to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,323,000 units. The increase came on the heels of a 9 percent downturn in September when a 39 percent drop in multi-family starts offset what was an otherwise encouraging gain in the single-family sector. That original estimate was revised slightly higher in today’s report from the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development, rising from 1,047,000 units to 1,054,000. October’s gain put housing starts on a pace 23.3 percent above that of October 2015.
