December’s housing starts failed to sustain their November growth but permit activity as well as positive news out of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) suggested construction could rise again this spring. The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development said housing starts in the U.S. were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.460 million units in December, down 4.3 percent for the month. A downgrade of November starts from a 1.560 million rate to 1.525 million still left the month with the highest numbers of the year. December starts were 7.5 percent above pace the prior December pace , and higher than the forecast of 1.425 million from analysts polled by Econoday. Single-family starts were at an annual rate of 1.027 million units, a decline of 8.6 percent month-over-month, while multifamily starts increased 7.5 percent to a 417,000 annual pace. Single-family starts were 15.8 percent higher than the previous December while multifamily starts were down 9.5 percent. [housingchartall] On a non-adjusted basis, construction was begun on 101,200 residential units last month, 69,900 of them single-family homes. In November the relative numbers were 117,400 and 84,700. Construction permits were up 1.9 percent for the month to an annual rate of 1.495 million units and the November estimate was revised upward by 7,000 units. Permitting was 6.1 percent ahead of the rate a year earlier. [housingpermitschart]