Construction of new U.S. homes and apartments surged in January at the fastest pace in more than three decades, defying forecasts of a housing slowdown, while the number of Americans filing weekly jobless claims rose more than expected and import prices climbed. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that new home construction jumped 14.5 percent last month to an annual rate of 2.276 million units, the highest level in nearly 33 years as housing starts for single-family houses hit a record. The huge monthly jump is considered an anomaly caused by unusually warm weather in January that prompted builders to start work on more homes. Analysts are forecasting that housing construction will slow this year as the nation's five-year housing boom cools. New construction of single-family homes increased 12.8 percent to a record 1.819 million unit pace in January, while multi-family housing starts surged 21.9 percent to a 457,000 unit pace. --more 14 17 Local Time 11 17 GMT
