US home construction starts were up 3 per cent in October, the biggest monthly gain in eight months, but building permits were down 6.6 percent to a level not seen in 14 years, a government report today showed.
The Commerce Department said housing starts set at an annual pace of 1.229 million units in October from a 1.193 million unit pace in September.
It was the biggest monthly increase since February and came after starts tumbled 11.4 per cent the prior month. Economists were expecting to see a slight decrease in starts to a 1.17 million unit pace from the initially reported 1.191 million pace.
Building permits fell 6.6 percent in October to a 1.178 million unit pace.
That was the lowest level since July 1993 and well below the 1.200 million unit level economists were expecting.