Chart of the Day: Housing. Is. Back.

The Census Bureau reported housing starts for September – a measure of how many houses started construction – and the number is huge. There were some 872,000 new starts, a 15 percent jump from 758,000 starts last month, soaring 34.8 percent from last September’s figure 647,000, a 225,000 increase year-over-year. Economists’ consensus expectation for the housing starts figure was only 770,000. Someone should have reminded them that housing is back.