New residential construction in the U.S. jumped by much more than expected in the month of October, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Friday.
The report said housing starts spiked by 13.7 percent to an annual rate of 1.290 million in October from a revised 1.135 million in September.
Economists had expected housing starts to climb to an annual rate of 1.185 million from the 1.127 million originally reported for the previous month.
Despite the significant monthly increase, the Commerce Department said housing starts in October were down by 2.9 percent compared to the same month a year ago.
The bigger than expected monthly increase in housing starts was partly due to a jump in multi-family starts, which soared by 36.8 percent to a rate of 413,000. Single-family starts also shot up by 5.3 percent to a rate of 877,000.
The Commerce Department said building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, also surged up by 5.9 percent to a rate of 1.297 million in October from a revised 1.225 million in September.
Building permits had been expected to rise to a rate of 1.247 million from the 1.215 million originally reported for the previous month.
Multi-family permits jumped by 13.9 percent to a rate of 458,000, while single-family permits climbed by 1.9 percent to a rate of 839,000.
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