Housing starts and permits up nationwide

The number of housing starts and permits for building private homes both increased nationwide in January over December, according to federal government data released Thursday morning. Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2,217,000, a 6.8 percent increase over the December rate and a 3.8 percent increase over the rate during January of 2005. Privately owned housing starts in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2,276,000, a 14.5 percent increase over December and a 4 increase over the last year. By Tom Acitelli