US Housing Starts Unexpectedly Climb on Multifamily Projects (2)

New US residential construction improved for a third straight month to the fastest pace in nearly a year, boosted by multifamily projects.

Housing starts increased 7.2% to an annual pace of 1.49 million homes in January, according to government figures out Thursday. The pace of home starts was above all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

The advance was led by a nearly 30% surge in multifamily construction, while single-family home starts declined. Single-family projects fell in the Northeast and the South, which faced a cold spelllate in the month.

Despite the likely ...