February 20, 1985

Housing construction in January jumped 14.9 percent from December, for its biggest rise in 20 months, the Commerce Department said today. Housing was started at an annual rate of 1.83 million units in January, up from the December rate of 1.60 million units. The figures are adjusted for seasonal variation. It was the biggest monthly increase since a 17.7 percent advance in May 1983.

A FEW years ago John Rossi and his wife, Judyann, would stroll around the city's more elegant neighborhoods and imagine owning a glossy restaurant with a fancy address. Instead, they settled on a homey, $1,000-a-month basement at 317 East Fifth Street and wheeled their secondhand Garland stove up from the Bowery themselves. A year ago, the Rossis opened the doors of the Cafe at Pete's Place, where the food has since received good notices from both restaurant reviewers and the officers from the Ninth Precinct next-door. Their initial investment was $20,000. ''We could have borrowed $200,000, but that was a very unnerving proposition,'' said the 31- year-old Mr. Rossi. In New York City, the restaurant business is rife with failure - as many as eight out of 10 restaurants close in their first year, according to an educated estimate - yet it somehow manages to breed new starters weekly. To enter such a high- risk venture, young would-be entrepreneur-chefs often have to seek their opportunities in off-the- beaten-track neighborhoods, where success is predicated on a practical approach, both to the food and the surroundings. Yet according to the owners of five Manhattan restaurants, all of whom have cooked in other kitchens and yearned for places of their own, the chance to put their dreams to the test was more than worth the compromise in location.

The Cabinet Council on Commerce and Trade recommended to President Reagan today that the United States let expire next month the ''voluntary'' quotas on Japanese automobiles exported to this country, Administration officials reported. The recommendation was the clearest sign so far of the Administration's position. It appears more likely now that the quotas will lapse March 31 if the United States continues to raise no objection. Administration officials familiar with the recommendation said it represents the consensus of Mr. Reagan's advisers. But they cautioned that the President would be considering the suggestion not only in the context of how it would affect the domestic automobile industry but also in terms of American and Japanese security and trade issues.

FOR more than three years now, it has been the secret of the home computer industry, seldom whispered aloud: No one has figured out how a computer can be truly useful at home. This, after years of research and more than a billion dollars in losses by toy manufacturers and electronic giants. It should not be a surprise. Writing the occasional letter hardly demands a heavy-duty word processor. Balancing the checkbook, printing out labels for Christmas cards and keeping track of recipes seem to be tasks better suited to pen, calculator and file box than to a $1,000 computer system. ''What the world needs is a home computer that does windows,'' said Esther Dyson, one of the personal computer industry's most influential observers, who was running her annual Personal Computer Forum several weeks ago in Phoenix. But window washing or, for that matter, drying dishes or vacuuming living rooms are the realm of robots, not computers. With the market for home computers - the least expensive machines are selling for $500 or less - virtually dead today, industry executives have begun to speak openly about their oldest, most fundamental problem: Making the computer as compelling an addition to the home as a television set or a dishwasher.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1985 The Economy Housing construction showed its biggest rise in 20 months in January, climbing 14.9 percent from December to an annual rate of 1.83 million units, the Commerce Department said. Economists welcomed the report as a sign of future economic growth. (Page D1.) Industry operated at 81.9 percent of capacity in January, up from 81.7 percent in December and the third consecutive rise. (D2.)