Housing starts in January 2013 were at their third-highest level since 2008.
Housing starts showed a big increase in December 2012, to a revised seasonally adjusted annual rate of 973,000. January dropped 8.5% to 890,000 - which still puts it 23.6% over January 2012's rate of 720,000.
Single-family housing starts in January 2013 were at a rate of 613,000, up 0.8% over the revised December rate of 608,000. January's rate for units in buildings with five-or-more was 260,000.
