September’s U.S. housing starts in were above 1 million for the just the third time this year, the National Association of Home Builders reported Friday.

Citing Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development data, the NAHB said housing production in September rose 6.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.02 million units.

"September's uptick reveals that last month's dip in production was more of an anomaly than a market reversal," said the association’s chief economist, David Crowe. "I expect we will see a continued recovery as job creation grows and consumers gain more confidence in the housing market."

NAHB Chairman Kevin Kelly, a home builder and developer from Wilmington, Del., said the numbers may be the start of a strong trend.

"These numbers show starts returning to levels we saw earlier this summer, where they hovered around one million units," Kelly said. "We are hopeful this pattern of modest growth will continue as we close out the year."