U.S. housing starts climbed in December

Housing starts rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 954,000 in December — the highest level of new-home development since June 2008 — according to new numbers released today by the U.S. Department of Commerce. This rate comes in at 12.1 percent above the November numbers, which The Real Deal reported last month slipped slightly from the October count. Year-over-year, housing starts in December posted a 28.8 percent gain.

“Overall, this report represents a solid ending to 2012 and a promising start to 2013,” said National Association of Home Builders senior economist Robert Denk in a separate statement. “Multifamily production is almost back to normal levels and while single-family starts still have a way to go, they are gaining momentum.”

Overall in 2012, there wer roughly 780,000 housing starts — 28.1 percent above the 2011 total of 608,800.

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For single-family homes, the seasonally adjusted rate in December was 616,000 — a month-over-month increase of 8.1 percent. Multi-family production jumped 23.1 percent month-over-month.

Single- and multi-family housing starts increased in all regions across the nation. The Midwest posted the healthiest month-over-month gain of 24.7 percent, with the Northeast coming in next at 21.4 percent. The West saw an 18.7 percent increase from November and the South posted a 3.8 percent gain during the same time period. —Zachary Kussin