The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Friday morning that new housing starts in June rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.174 million, an increase of 9.8% from the upwardly revised May rate of 1.069 million and an increase of 26.6% compared with the June 2014 rate of 927,000. The consensus estimate from a survey of economists expected a rate of around 1.125 million.

The revision to the May rate totaled 33,000 additional new housing starts. That makes the June total even more impressive.

The seasonally adjusted rate of new building permits rose in June to 1.343 million, up 7.4% from the downwardly revised May rate of 1.250 million, as well as 30% above the June 2014 rate of 1.033 million. The consensus estimate called for 1.178 million new permits.

Single-family housing starts slipped to an annualized rate of 685,000 in June, down 0.9% from the revised May rate of 691,000.

Permits for new single-family homes rose 0.9% in June to an adjusted annual rate of 687,000 from a revised total of 681,000 in May.

Multifamily starts for buildings with five or more units, a more volatile number than single-family starts, soared 55% year-over-year in June and rose 28.6% compared with May.

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