While the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday unexpectedly showing a continued slump by housing starts in the U.S. in the month of November, the report also showed a much bigger than expected surge by building permits.

The Commerce Department said housing starts tumbled by 1.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.289 million in November after plunging by 3.2 percent to a revised rate of 1.312 million in October.

Housing starts fell for the third straight month as a nosedive by multi-family starts more than offset a sharp increase by single-family starts.

The report said multi-family starts plummeted by 23.2 percent to an annual rate of 278,000, while single-family starts shot up by 6.4 percent to an annual rate of 1.011 million.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said building permits spiked by 6.1 percent to an annual rate of 1.505 million in November after falling by 0.4 percent to a revised rate of 1.419 million in October.

Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, were expected to climb by 1.0 percent to a rate of 1.430 million from the 1.416 million originally reported for the previous month.

With multi-family permits skyrocketing by 19.0 percent to an annual rate of 533,000, building permits reached their highest level since February. Single-family permits crept up by 0.1 percent to a rate of 972,000.

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