US witnessed a rise in home construction in January as builders recovered from a bout of bad weather, while, an indicator of future groundbreakings fell, in another sign the housing recovery will be slow.

The recent figures posted by the Commerce Department revealed that work reportedly began on 591,000 houses at an annual rate last month, raised 2.8 percent from December. Single-family groundbreakings and apartment construction both rose.

However, economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires predict a 5.9% jump in January housing starts, to an annual rate of 590,000. The pace of 591,000 was the strongest since July 2009.

"The housing recovery is under way", Michelle Meyer, an economist at Barclays Capital Inc. in New York, said before the report. "Housing starts may be sluggish in the near term until sales pick up and builders gain more confidence about the outlook".

Today's report posted building in January reported a 4.9 percent fall to a 621,000 pace from a 653,000 rate the previous month. Permits were augured to fall 5.1 percent to a 620,000 rate.

Work on multifamily homes, such as townhouses and apartment buildings, reportedly increased 9.2 percent to an annual rate of 107,000.