Home construction decreased from November to December, but housing starts numbers showed their first year-over-year increase since March 2006, and the number of building permits issued increased, U.S. Census Bureau statistics showed yesterday.

Privately owned housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 557,000, a 4 percent decrease from November’s total of 580,000, but a 0.2 percent increase above December 2008. Single-family housing starts were 6.9 percent below November. For the year an estimated 553,800 housing units were started, which was a 38.8 percent drop from 2008’s total of 905,500.

A survey of economists by Briefing.com found that they expected housing starts to decline to an annual rate of 572,000, CNNMoney.com reported.

Though starts slowed, the number of building permits increased in December to an adjusted annual rate of 653,000, a 10.9 percent increase from November’s rate of 589,000. December’s total was a 15.8 percent increase compared with December 2008. For the year there were an estimated 571,600 housing units authorized by building permits, a 36.9 percent decrease from 2008 figures.

The increase in building permits issued in December was the biggest increase since June 2008 and was a surprise to economists, who had forecast a 0.7 percent decline, CNNMoney.com reported. The increase in permits issued should lead to a recovery in starts over the next few months.