WASHINGTON (AFX) - US housing starts rose 8.2 pct in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.645 mln units, the Commerce Department said. The rise in November housing starts was unexpected. The consensus forecast of Wall Street economists was for housing starts to fall 0.7 pct to 1.541 mln units. In October, housing starts fell a revised 4.0 pct to 1.521 mln units, weaker than the initial estimate of a 1.3 pct fall to 1.552 mln units. Year-on-year, housing starts in November were up 5.5 pct. Building permits increased 5.3 pct to 1.564 mln units in November. In October, building permits fell a revised 2.8 pct to 1.485 mln units, stronger than the initial estimate of a 3.6 pct fall to 1.473 mln units. Single family housing starts rose 3.2 pct to an annual rate of 1.261 mln units in November, after falling 3.4 pct in October. Starts of multiple family units rose 30.1 pct to 346,000 units in November after falling 2.9 pct the previous month. This is the highest level of multiple housing starts since Feb 2000. Starts rose in the Northeast, Midwest and the West, but fell in the South, the Commerce Department said. In the Northeast, starts rose 20.1 pct to 173,000 units following a rise of 2.9 pct in the previous month. In the Midwest, starts increased 20.5 pct to 382,000 units, following a fall of 10.4 pct in October. This is the highest level of starts in the Midwest since Feb 2000. In the West, starts rose 12.7 pct to 372,000 units, after falling 19.7 pct in the previous month. Starts in the South, the country's largest region, declined 1.6 pct to 718,000 units, compared with a fall of 2.3 pct in October.