U.S. – According to data released by the United States Census Bureau, privately-owned housing starts jumped 20.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,135,000 in April.

It is the highest rate since November of 2007 as starts for single-family homes reached a nearly seven-year high.  Single-family housing starts rose 16.7 percent to 733,000 while starts of buildings with five units or more jumped 31.9 percent to 389,000.

Housing starts in the Northeast recorded the highest increase (85.9 percent), followed by the West (39 percent) and the Midwest (27.8 percent) while groundbreaking in the South fell 1.8 percent.

Building permits in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,143,000, 10.1 percent above the revised March rate of 1,038,000. Single-family authorizations increased 3.7 percent while authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more rose 20 percent in April. Year-on-year, housing starts rose 9.2 percent and building permits went up 6.4 percent.