(AP) WASHINGTON — U.S. builders started construction on homes in September at the fastest rate since July 2008 and made plans to build even more homes in the coming months. The gains show the housing recovery is strengthening and could help the economy grow.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that home construction rose 15 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 872,000. Single-family construction rose 11 percent to the fastest rate in four years. Apartment building increased 25.1 percent.

Applications for building permits, a sign of future construction, jumped nearly 12 percent to an annual rate of 894,000, also the highest since July 2008. 

"If there was any doubt that the housing market was undergoing a recovery, even a modest one in the face of the terrible 2008 decline, those doubts should be erased by now," said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG.

The construction rate has increased by more than 38 percent over the past 12 months.

In the Tampa Bay area in recent months, home builders have scooped up land, retooled sales pitches and revived planned communities paralyzed by the housing bust.

Sprawling subdivisions from Wesley Chapel to Apollo Beach are rumbling with new construction as builders rush to open model homes, secure buyers and close on deals.

Builders in the bay area pulled more than 3,800 new permits for single-family homes in the first eight months of 2012, a 26 percent jump over the same period in 2011, U.S. Census data show.

Patrick Newport, U.S. economist at HIS Global Insight, said the report "is telling us that the housing market is improving and there is no reason to think that this will not continue going forward."

Record-low mortgage rates, stable price increases and a limited supply of previously occupied homes have made newly built homes more attractive to buyers. Builder confidence is at a six-year high, according to a survey released Tuesday by the National Association of Home Builders. And the Federal Reserve's aggressive policies could push long-term interest rates even lower.

Newport said housing starts should total 750,000 for the year. He expects starts will climb to 950,000 next year and 1.27 million in 2014. By 2015, he said home construction should reach more than 1.5 million.

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