Growth of U.S. private housing starts ticks up

Privately-owned housing starts in the United States rose in January, the U.S. Department of Commerce said Friday.

Privately-owned housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.23 million in January, up 18.6 percent from the revised December rate, according to the newly released data of the department.

The December rate was revised to 1.037 million. On a year-on-year basis, housing starts in January were 7.8 percent below the figure last year.

Single-family housing starts increased by 25.1 percent month-on-month in January to 926,000, while the rate for units in buildings with five or more was 289,000.

Privately-owned housing completions in January were 27.6 percent above the December reading to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.244 million.