The Commerce Department reported on Friday the housing starts jumped by 17.3 percent m-o-m in June to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.186 million, while building permits rose by 2.1 percent m-o-m to an annual rate of 1.241 million.

Economists had forecast housing starts increasing to a pace of 1.169 million units last month and building permits rising to a pace of 1.290 million units.

Data for May was revised to show homebuilding growing to a pace of 1.011 million units, instead of increasing at a rate of 0.974 million units as previously reported.

According to the report, permits for single-family homes, the largest segment of the market, increased 11.8 percent m-o-m to a rate of 834,000 million units in June, while approvals for the multi-family homes segment slumped 13.4 percent m-o-m to a 407,000 unit-rate.

In the meantime, groundbreaking on single-family homes surged 17.2 percent m-o-m to a rate of 709,000 units in June, while housing starts for the multi-family jumped 18.6 percent m-o-m.