Housing Starts at Nearly Four-Year High : Economy: Low mortgage rates add to November’s 3.9% jump in construction. But in the West, the pace fell 2.8%.

Low mortgage rates and an improving economy combined to help boost residential construction in November to the highest level in nearly four years--fresh evidence that the economy is picking up steam.

However, not all parts of the nation enjoyed the better than expected increase, with strong gains in the Northeast and South offset partly by slight declines in the Midwest and West--including California.

Housing starts in November jumped 3.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.43 million, the highest since a 1.44-million rate in February, 1990, the Commerce Department reported. It was the fourth straight increase.

“We’ve been saying all along that with mortgage rates this low, what housing needs is better job and income growth,” said Mark Obrinsky, an economist with the Federal National Mortgage Assn. “We’re getting that and, hey, it works.”

Although the department revised October starts down to 1.38 million, from 1.40 million, it also said starts in September totaled 1.37 million, stronger than the 1.35 million rate initially estimated. Starts so far this year are 6% above those of the first 11 months of 1992.

Regionally, starts shot up 17.4% in the Northeast, to a rate of 142,000, and 8.4% in the South, to 635,000. That offset a 2.8% decline in the West, to 314,000, and a 2% dip in the Midwest, to 341,000.

With mortgage rates near a 25-year low, analysts said housing is more affordable than it has been in years.

As a result, “I think what we’re seeing here is probably a lot of movement out of apartments into first-time homeownership,” said economist David F. Seiders of the National Assn. of Home Builders.

The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. said fixed-rate, 30-year mortgages averaged 7.16% in November, up from 6.83% in October, but still 3 percentage points lower than they were just three years ago.

Fannie Mae’s Obrinsky said he sees mortgage rates remaining in the 7% to 7.5% range over next 12 months, suggesting no immediate action by the Federal Reserve Board to push interest rates up.

Some analysts had said they expected the resurgent economy to prompt the Fed to tighten monetary policy soon to ward off a possible spike in inflation.