The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Tuesday morning that new housing starts in July rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.206 million, an increase of 0.2% from the upwardly revised June rate of 1.204 million and an increase of 10.1% compared with the July 2014 rate of 1.095 million. The consensus estimate from a survey of economists expected a rate of around 1.18 million.

The revision to the June rate totaled 135,000 additional new housing starts. The last time housing starts were this high was October 2007.

The seasonally adjusted rate of new building permits slipped in July to 1.119 million, down 16.3% from the upwardly revised June rate of 1.337million but 7.5% above the June 2014 rate of 1.041 million. The consensus estimate called for 1.23 million new permits.

Single-family housing starts rose to an annualized rate of 782,000 in July, up 12.8% from the revised June rate of 693,000.

Permits for new single-family homes slipped 1.9% year-over-year in June, to an adjusted annual rate of 679,000, from a revised total of 692,000 in July.

Multi-family starts for buildings with 5 or more units, a more volatile number than single-family starts, fell by 2.1% year-over-year in July and tumbled by 17.1% compared with June.

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