Housing starts rose 6.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.206 million in September. This is 17.5 percent above the September 2014 rate of 1.026 million.
Housing activity rose in three of the four regions, rising 25.4 percent in the West, 23.4 percent in the Northeast and 0.6 percent in the South, but declining 12.2 percent in the Midwest.
New building permits declined in September to 1.103 million, down 5.0 percent from August’s estimate but 4.7 percent above September 2014’s estimate.
Housing completions in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.028 million, up 7.5 percent from August’s estimate and 8.4 percent higher than a year ago.
Read the Census release.