Home starts jump to fastest pace in 4 years

WASHINGTON (AP) — Builders started construction last month on the most single-family homes and apartments since July 2008, more evidence that the housing recovery is gaining momentum.

The Commerce Department says housing starts jumped 3.6% in October from September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 894,000. Single-family home construction dipped 0.2%.

Apartment construction, which is more volatile, rose 10%.

Applications for building permits, a sign of future construction, fell 2.7% to 866,000, after jumping 12% in September to a four-year high. Still, permit applications to build single-family homes rose to their highest level since July 2008.

Housing starts are 87% above the annual rate of 478,000 in April 2009, the recession low. That's still short of the 1.5 million annual rate considered healthy.