New home starts reach fastest pace in 4 years

WASHINGTON — U.S. builders started construction last month on the most homes and apartments since July 2008, more evidence that the housing recovery is gaining momentum.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that builders broke ground on homes in October at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 894,000. That's a 3.6 percent gain from September.

Single-family home construction dipped 0.2 percent to an annual rate of 594,000, down from a four-year high in the previous month. Apartment construction, which is more volatile from month to month, rose 10 percent to an annual rate of 285,000.

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.

The overwhelming trend here is a housing market that has clearly shifted into recovery mode, Robert Kavcic, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, said in a note to clients.

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.

Builder confidence rose to its highest level in six and a half years, according to a survey by the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo.