U.S. housing starts hit decade high

WASHINGTON — U.S. housing starts rose by 5% to an annualized rate of 1.35 million, beating a forecast of 1.31 million and reaching the highest pace since July 2007. Single-family starts rose by 3.9% while starts of multi-family units were up by 7.5%. The gains were regionally specific, as all areas apart from the Midwest logged declines, albeit by only 0.9% in the South. At the same time, permits were down for the second month, falling by 4.6% to a rate of 1.3 million despite gains in the Northeast and Midwest.