New residential construction in the U.S. showed a substantial increase in the month of September, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday, with housing starts coming in well above economist estimates. The report said housing starts jumped 15 percent to an annual rate of 872,000 in September from the revised August estimate of 758,000. Economists had expected starts to climb to 765,000 from the 750,000 originally reported for the previous month. Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, also surged up by 11.6 percent to an annual rate of 894,000 in September from the revised August rate of 801,000. The increase in building permits also exceeded expectations.