A rise in condominium projects and housing starts in the Midwest last month helped offset the largest downturn in single-family home construction in 16 years, Bloomberg reported.

Housing starts rose to an annual pace of 1.229 million homes in October, up 3 percent from September, the Commerce Department said today. Construction of single-family homes fell 7.3 percent, while multifamily home construction rose 44 percent. Analysts predicted starts would fall to a 1.17 million unit pace.

In the Midwest, the number of housing starts soared 21 percent, while construction rose 8.5 percent in the Northeast and 5.8 percent in the West. The South experienced a 4.6 percent decline.

Building permits, a gauge of future construction, dropped 6.6 percent to an annual pace of 1.178 million, the lowest since 1993. This figure, along with a decline in sales of single-family homes, could be a sign that the real estate recession will continue into 2008.