• Single-family home building increases to highest level since June 2007.

• Permits to build single-family units jump, while multi-family permits drop.

Housing starts rose 1.9% (11.1% y/y) in September to 1.415 million units (SAAR) from 1.388 million in August, revised from 1.416 million. The increase left starts 12.5% below their January peak of 1.617 million. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 1.450 million starts in September.

Starts of single-family homes rose 8.5% last month (22.3% y/y) to 1.108 million from an unrevised 1.021 million in August and 992,000 in July, revised from 981,000. The latest level was roughly two-thirds above the April low. Offsetting the increase was a 16.3% decline (-16.6% y/y) in multi-family starts to 307,000 units from 367,000 in August, revised from 395,000. It was the lowest level of multi-family start in five months and down 51.1% from the peak this past January.

Building permits rose 5.2% (8.1% y/y) to 1.553 million units from 1.476 million in August, revised from 1.470 million. It was the highest level of permits since March 2007. Permits to build single-family homes rose 7.8% (24.3% y/y) to 1.119 million, the fifth consecutive month of strong increase. Permits to build multi-family homes eased 0.9% (-19.2% y/y) to 434,000 after falling 13.4% in August.

By region, housing starts in the Northeast surged by two-thirds (26.1% y/y) to 145,000, the highest level since January. In the South, starts rose 6.2% (8.9% y/y) to 755,000 following August's 15.3% decline. In the West, starts improved 1.4% (13.6% y/y) to 350,000, the highest level since February. To the downside were housing starts in the Midwest which fell 32.7% (+4.4% y/y) to 165,000. It was the lowest level in four months.

The housing starts and permits figures can be found in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure is contained in the AS1REPNA database.