Building permits surged 6.2% month-over-month in October to an annualized pace of 1.03 million. This was the highest level since June 2008.
This beat expectations for a rise in annualized pace of 930,000.
Permits were driven by the volatile multi-family sector.
Single-family authorizations in October were at a rate of 620,000, up 0.8% on the month.
Meanwhile, permits were up 5.2% on the month in September to an annualized pace of 974,000.
The Commerce Department has said it will delay the September and October housing starts release until Dec. 18.
"The lapse in federal funding affected the data collection schedule for the Survey of Construction, which is the source of data on new housing unit starts and housing unit completions," according to the Commerce Department.
"Accurate data collection for September and October could not be completed in time for the November 26 release. As a result, the December 18 release will include data on housing units started and completed in September, October and November 2013."
