Led by a jump in multi-family production, nationwide housing starts increased 6.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.206 million units in September from an upwardly revised August reading, according to recently released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Commerce Department. Multi-family starts rose 18.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 466,000 units while single-family production edged up 0.3% to 740,000 units.

“Although our builders are gaining confidence in the housing market, they remain cautious about adding too much inventory,” said Tom Woods, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

“Despite the modest month-over-month differentials in single-family production, this sector has shown gradual improvement throughout 2015,” said David Crowe, NAHB chief economist. “Since January, single-family starts are up 11%, and we anticipate a similar pace for the rest of this year.”

Combined single- and multi-family starts rose in three of the four regions in September. The Northeast, South and West posted respective gains of 23.4%, 0.6% and 25.4%. The Midwest registered a 12.2% loss.

Single-family permits edged down 0.3% to a rate of 697,000, while multi-family permits fell 12.1% to 406,000. Regionally, the Midwest, South and West posted respective permit losses of 5.1%, 6.8% and 6.2%. The Northeast rose 8.3%.

For more information, visit www.nahb.org.