U.S. home construction rose last month, suggesting that the lull in the housing market that followed the expiration of home-buyer tax breaks in the spring has ended.

September construction starts on single-family homes rose 4.4% from August, an annual rate of 452,000, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Overall housing starts, which include groundbreakings on apartment and other multifamily buildings, increased 0.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 610,000.

The combination of weak demand and the large supply of vacant homes for sale will likely leave housing starts subdued for several years. As we discussed in several previous postings, housing starts will remain low primarily because individuals can buy already built homes for below replacement value.

Regionally, housing starts in September increased 4.8% in the South and 2.9% in the Northeast. They fell 8.2% in the Midwest, and 3.6% in the West.

Building permits for single-homes, seen as an indicator of future construction, edged up to 405,000 in September from 403,000 in August. But weighed down by a drop in permits for multifamily homes, overall permits fell by 5.6% to 571,000.