The housing market is headed for the stratosphere, and it’s causing good cheer for those betting on a healthy U.S. economy.

Housing starts jumped 26.6 percent in the summer and building permits were up 30 percent in June compared to the same time last year, according new results reported Friday by the U.S Commerce Department as reported by Forbes.

Starts and permits reached eight-year highs, and multi-family housing was the big driver for the high numbers.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate reached 1.174 million in June — that’s a 9.8 percent increase over 1.069 million, which was the estimate in May. Last June, the projection was just 927,000 at this point.

Single-family housing had a bit of a dip in June, declining from 691,000 in May to 685,000 in June — that’s a 0.9 percent decline. Buildings with five or more units, on the other hand, showed massive increases, jumping 28.6 percent in June. The seasonally adjusted rate is 476,000.

Permits jumped even higher, increasing to 1.343 million for a seasonally adjusted annual rate. It hasn’t been that high since July of 2007, months before the economy would crash.

Those permit numbers represent a 30 percent increase compared to the 1.033 million at this time last year, and it was a 7.4 percent boost from the 1.25 million projection for the month of May.

Although multi-family housing was the start in this report, builders are also pretty happy with single-family homes, with the confidence level reaching 60 in the sector according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index as reported by Forbes. A level of 50 or above is considered good — a rate of 60 would make it the highest since way back in November 2005.