Housing starts surged 11.6 percent in May, the biggest percentage rise in almost seven years and a reversal of two straight months of falls, according to the Commerce Department and the NAHB ...

Housing starts surged an unexpectedly large 11.6 percent in May, the biggest percentage rise in almost seven years and a reversal of two straight months of falls, according to the Commerce Department and the National Association of Homebuilders.

Ground breaking for new homes jumped to a seasonally adjusted 1.733 million annual rate from a downwardly revised 1.553 million rate in April, the biggest climb since July 1995, the Commerce Department also reported. Single family starts-the largest category of activity-jumped 9.6 percent, an increase also not matched since July 1995. Starts beat the expectations of some analysts, according to Reuters, that had forecast a $1.599 million rate.

Permits, an indicator of builder confidence in future activity, rose 2.6 percent. Regionally, starts climbed 6 percent in the South, the busiest home-building region, and 10 percent in the West, the next-most-active part of the country for construction. New home building rocketed

24 percent in the Midwest and 22.4 percent in the Northeast.