Single-family starts, permits fall in November
February 20, 2010 9:34 am Trends
The pace of groundbreaking for home construction in the U.S. fell in November after rebounding for the first time in four months in October, while building permits slid to the lowest level in 14 1/2 years.
Housing starts declined 3.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted 1.187 million annual rate in November, after rising 4.2 percent in the previous month to 1.232 million, the Commerce Department said this week. Year-to-year, housing starts during November were 24.2 percent below the level of construction in the same month of 2006.
Building permits decreased 1.5 percent to a 1.152 million annual rate in November, the lowest level since June 1993. Economists had expected permits to edge up 0.5 percent to a rate of 1.164 million.
November single-family housing starts decreased 5.4 percent to 829,000, the lowest pace since April 1991. Construction of housing with two or more units rose 0.6 percent to 358,000; within that category, groundbreakings of homes with five or more units – or multi-family – were 4.4 percent higher at 332,000.
Regionally, housing starts fell 16.3 percent in the Northeast, 1.5 percent in the Midwest and 6.9 percent in the West. They rose 0.3 percent in the South.
Source: realtrends.com