National housing starts topped one million in September, the third time this year that housing production has exceeded that number.
Total housing starts rose 17.8 percent last month year-over-year, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,017,000 units, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau.
“September’s uptick reveals that [August’s] dip in production was more of an anomaly than a market reversal,” said David Crowe, chief of economist with the National Association of Homebuilders, which issued a statement on the data after it was released Friday. “I expect we will see a continued recovery as job creation grows and consumers gain more confidence in the housing market.”
Housing starts posted solid gains in all four regions of the country: up 5.3 percent in the Northeast, 3.5 percent in the Midwest, 4.2 percent in the South and 13.9 percent in the West, according to the data.