WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. builders started construction last month on the most single-family homes and apartments since July 2008, more evidence that the housing recovery is gaining momentum.
The Commerce Department says housing starts jumped 3.6 percent in October from September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 894,000. Single-family home construction dipped 0.2 percent.
Apartment construction, which is more volatile, rose 10 percent.
Applications for building permits, a sign of future construction, fell 2.7 percent to 866,000, after jumping 12 percent in September to a four-year high. Still, permit applications to build single-family homes rose to their highest level since July 2008.
Housing starts are 87 percent above the annual rate of 478,000 in April 2009, the recession low. That's still short of the 1.5 million annual rate considered healthy.
.
CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER
AP Economics Writer
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Housting starts moving at fastest pace in 4 years
Related Stories
- More Texas News
- National News
- International News
- El Paso police arrest teacher, call in bomb squad
- 300-pound Texas man dies after police use stun gun
- Man arrested in Texas for 1962 death of La. woman
- Star Trek shuttle craft to be displayed in Houston
- Texas officials find body of missing postal worker
- Billie Sol Estes to be remembered at funeral
- Granbury residents hit by tornado to return home
- Obama talks jobs, says politics misplace focus
- School to resume in tornado-damaged Cleburne
- House OKs major changes to state cancer institute
- Ore. timber country ponders future with fewer logs
- Residents of devastated neighborhood return to clean up
- Bernanke forecasts gains from computer technology
- Police: Boy, 6, kicked by pony on Pa. farm dies
- Victims: Marines failed to safeguard water supply
- IRS probe ignored most influential groups
- Conn., NTSB officials to tour train crash site
- Orb goes for 2nd leg of Triple Crown
- Myanmar leader to meet Obama but stalls on reforms
- Glance: Europe's Key Institutions
- Cayman Islands ex-premier denies new allegations
- Rescuers spot bodies at collapsed Indonesian mine
- 24-hour curfew in Nigeria city in military push
- Politics, bribery charges swirl around Ugandan oil
- New board to oversee Trinidad's Caribbean Airlines
- Gunmen seize elderly father of Syria's deputy FM
- Activists: Rebel groups kidnap in Syria's Aleppo
- Gunmen raid home in Iraq, kill 5 people
- French president signs gay marriage into law
- SKorea says NKorea fires 3 short-range missiles
Automotive
Find valuable information about buying your next car, including price quotes and your latest automotive news.
Wedding Central
The greatest Southeast Texas story ever told. Share your wedding and engagement news!
Lost and Found Pets
These are pets that have been lost or found in the KFDM News Channel 6 viewing area.
No Text Zone
Texting While Driving Kills Thousands of People Each Year. Many More are Seriously Injured. You Can Help Make Our Roads a NO TEXT ZONE
Texas Lottery
Texas Lottery
Community Calendar
Check out our Community Calendar!
Baby Talk
Baby Talk with Nicole Murray.
KFDM Channel 6 Top Stories
Business News
Gauge of US economy's future health up in April
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A measure of the U.S. economy's future health rose in solidly in April, buoyed by a sharp rise in applications to build new homes and apartments.
Consumer News
BC-US--Dow Record-Three Personal Stories, 1st Ld-Writethru,1173
Dow Record: Three tales of ups, downs and changes
AP Photo FX102, FX103
Eds: With BC-US--Dow Record. Adds photos.
By SCOTT MAYEROWITZ
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- When the Dow first crossed 14,000, investors were overjoyed. ...
Entertainment News
Get This
ON THIN ICE?
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- He was already on thin ice with the law when he failed to meet the conditions of his probation.
Science/Tech News
IN THE NEWS: LABOR GROUP SAYS CONDITIONS AT APPLE PLANTS IMPROVING
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A labor group Apple joined to assess working conditions at three manufacturing plants in China, where its products are made, says conditions are getting better.
