Max Whittaker/Bloomberg NewsHousing starts jumped 12.1% in December to a four-year high, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
Starts rose to an annual rate of 954,000 units — the highest since June 2008 — and topped economists’ median forecast of 890,000, Bloomberg News reported.
For the full year, housing starts also jumped, rising 28.1% to 780,000 from 609,000 in 2011, the biggest jump since 1983 and the highest level since 2008.
November starts were revised down to 851,000, from an originally reported 861,000.
Single-family home starts in December rose 8.1% to a 616,000 rate, also the highest since June 2008.
Work on multifamily units, which is often more volatile, jumped 20.3% to an annual rate of 338,000.