Each month, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development collect estimates of both the number of new homes that began construction and the number of building permits authorized during the month. In September, both housing starts and permits increased from the month before. In fact, new residential construction was up 6.3 percent and is now nearly 18 percent above last year’s level. Permits – which are an indicator of future home construction – rose 1.5 percent. New home construction has been somewhat volatile this year. But, despite a slow start, housing construction reached a post-recession high in July and remains well above last year’s estimates. Also in the report, single-family housing starts were up 1.1 percent in September while permits to build single-family homes remained relatively flat. This indicates that much of the month’s gains were due to improvement in the multi-family sector. More here.