Home construction rose slightly last month on the strength of single-family homes, but the market was still too weak to propel growth in the battered industry.

Construction of new homes and apartments rose 0.3 percent in September from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 610,000, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. It was the strongest report on home construction since April.

Housing starts are up 28 percent from their bottom in April 2009. Still, they are down 73 percent from their peak in January 2006 and 40 percent below the 1 million annual rate that analysts say is consistent with healthy housing markets.

Read more: WALB