Apartment housing construction permits and building starts climbed in November from October and were far above November 2010, government figures released Tuesday showed. The news for single-family homes was mixed.

The Wall Street Journal reported that overall U.S. home building hit its highest level in 19 months in November. All housing starts in November were at an adjusted annual rate of 685,000, which put them up 9.3 percent from October and 24.3 percent from the year before, according to the figures from the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Construction starts for buildings with five or more units was vastly different, with a rate of 230,000 that represented a climb of 32.2 percent from October and a stunning 180.5 percent from a year earlier.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of construction permits for housing for five or more families was up 16.1 percent from October and 80.6 percent year over year at 224,000. Single-family permits rose to an annual rate of 435,000, up 1.6 percent from October and 3.6 percent from November 2010.

In the construction-start numbers were 447,000 single-family homes, which was up slightly from October but down 1.5 percent from November 2010.