Washington, DC, August 16, 2006--Housing starts in July were off by 2.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.80 million, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.
This is the fifth decline in housing starts out of the last six months. Read full government report.
Building permits--which foreshadow future activity-- plunged 6.5% to 1.75 million annual units. This is the sixth straight monthly decline and the largest since September 1999. Permits are at their lowest level since August 2002.
Economists were looking for a smaller decline to about 1.82 million starts in July.
June's housing starts were revised lower to 1.84 million from 1.85 million.
On a year-over-year basis, housing starts are down 13.3% in July.
Economists generally agree that the housing market is rolling over. There remains a debate about the magnitude of the decline and its impact of the overall economy.
In July, starts of single-family homes fell 2.3% to a 1.45 million pace. Starts of multifamily homes fell 3.4% to 343,000.
Starts fell in three of the four regions of the nation in July, led by the 7.0% decline in the tiny Northeast market and a 2.9% drop in the West. Starts in the South fell 2.5%. Construction in the Midwest market rose 0.7%.
