The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced good news today regarding building permits, housing starts and housing completion numbers posted in October.

Privately owned housing units authorized by building permits were at a seasonally adjusted rate of 866,000. This is below the revised September rate of 890,000 but 29.8 percent above the October 2011 estimate of 667,000.

Privately owned housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted rate of 894,000. This is 3.6 percent above the revised September estimate and 41.9 percent above the October 2011 rate of 630,000.

Privately owned housing completions were at a seasonally adjusted rate of 772,000. This is 14.5 percent above the revised September estimate and 33.6 percent above the October 2011 rate of 578,000.