Both housing starts and building permits approached five-year highs in November, as the former reached an annual rate of 1.09 million-units, seasonally adjusted. Permits to build new homes, despite a 3.1 percent decline from October, reached a 1.01 million-unit annual pace.

Housing starts surged to jumped 22.7 percent in November to the highest annual rate in nearly six years to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.09 million units. The month-to-month increase was the largest since January 1990.

Groundbreaking for single-family homes, the largest segment of the market, added 20.8 percent to a 727,000-unit pace, the highest level since March 2008, while starts for multi-family homes jumped 26.8 percent to a 364,000-unit rate. The 1.09 million-unit combined rate was the highest since February 2008.

Permits to build homes fell 3.1 percent in November to a 1.01 million-unit pace, weighed down by a 10.8 percent drop in approvals for the multifamily sector. Permits for single-family homes rose 2.1 percent. Total permits were 7.9 percent higher than November 2012.

Housing completions in November improved by 21.6 percent year-over-year with an annual rate of 823,000 units, seasonally adjusted; the rate is just 0.1 percent below the revised October estimate of 824,000. Single-family housing completions reached a rate of 596,000 in November, 3.2 percent below the revised October rate of 616,000.