Home construction rose 6.3 percent in September

WASHINGTON (AP) - Construction firms broke ground on more apartment complexes in September, pushing up the pace of U.S. homebuilding.

Housing starts rose 6.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.017 million homes, the Commerce Department said Friday. Almost all the gains came from apartment construction - a volatile category - which increased 18.5 percent after plunging in August.

The sluggish recovery and meager wage growth has left more Americans renting instead of owning homes. Apartment construction has surged 30.3 percent over the past 12 months.

Starts for single-family houses rose just 1.1 percent in September, contributing to an 11 percent gain during the past 12 months.

Applications for building permits, a good sign of future activity, increased 1.5 percent to an annual rate of 1.018 million. That also reflected the strength in apartment building. Permits for multi-family buildings rose 7 percent in September, compared to a 0.5 percent drop in permits for single-family houses.

Other indicators reflect the continued to shift to rentals. The residential component of the American Institute of Architects billing index stood at 58.1 in August. That index is more heavily-weighted to multi-family housing and any reading above 50 signals growth.