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The number of new homes being built in the United States rose in November to the highest level since July, despite the first recession in a decade, a government report said Tuesday.

The Commerce Department said that housing starts jumped 8.2% in November to an annual rate of 1,645,000. Analysts were calling for a 1.55 million annual rate of starts, Reuters reported.

In October, housing starts declined by a revised 4%.

Housing construction can provide a boost to the trucking industry because it can increase demand for flatbed trucking to haul building materials, and dry van freight to ship household appliances and furniture.

Builders told the Associated Press that low interest rates and solid appreciation in housing values are motivating new home buyers. Reuters also noted that unseasonably warm weather allowed builders to work longer hours.

By region, housing starts rose by 20.1% in the Northeast, 20.5% in the Midwest and 12.7% in the West. However, starts fell 1.6% in the South.

eanwhile, building permits, an indicator of future construction, rose 5.3% in November, Commerce said. The increase brought the annual rate of permits issued to 1.564 million, and pulled the number of permits issued off the four-year lows it saw in October, after a decline of 3.6%.

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