Starts on single-family homes last month rose 4.4 percent from November, but multifamily starts were down more than 20 percent, which led to an overall decrease of 4.1 percent.

Along with the jump in single-family starts, however, fewer homes were for sale at the end of 2011 than had been in inventory since 2006, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The seasonally adjusted total for single-family home-starts was 470,000 units in December, government figures showed. That's the best number seen since April 2010.

Single-family makes up about 70 percent of the total home-construction volume, but a big decrease in a minor part of the total can produce a negative number. As The Wall Street Journal's Alan Zibel noted in his report, multifamily, which is two or more units, is "a part of the market that tends to swing around a lot."

For single-family homes, it was the third month in a row with a higher number than the month before, which gives hope that some recovery is taking hold, even if tentatively.

Also encouraging economic optimists, the housing numbers came out on the same day that weekly new unemployment claims were at 352,000, their lowest level since April 2008.

"The four-week average, which smoothes out fluctuations, dropped to 379,000. That was the second-lowest such figure in more than three years," The AP reported..