Housing starts fall more than expected

U.S. AUG. BUILDING STARTS FALL 2.3% TO 1.722 MILLION RATE

U.S. AUG. HOUSING STARTS FALL 6% TO 1.665 MILLION RATE

U.S. HOUSING STARTS DOWN 19.8% YEAR-ON-YEAR

U.S. AUG. HOUSING STARTS WEAKER THAN 1,75 MILLION EXPECTED

U.S. AUG. SINGLE-FAMILY PERMITS FALL 3.5% TO 1.279 MLN

U.S. AUG. SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSING STARTS FALL 5.9% TO 1.36MLN

Housing starts fall more than expected
New construction of homes falls to 1.665 million rate, a 3-year low

U.S. housing starts fell 6% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.665 million, the lowest since April 2003, the Commerce Department estimated Tuesday.

Housing starts have fallen in six of the past seven months.

Building permits, meanwhile, fell 2.3% to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.722 million, the lowest since August 2002. Permits have fallen seven months in a row, as builders adjust to a significantly weaker sales market.

The figures were weaker than expected by Wall Street economists. According to the MarketWatch survey, housing starts were expected to sink about 2.5% to 1.75 million, while permits were expected to drop 1.6% to 1.74 million.

Housing starts in July were revised lower to a 3.3% drop to 1.772 million from 1.795 million reported earlier. Permits in July were revised higher to 1.763 million from 1.747 million earlier.

Housing starts are now down 19.8% in the past year. Building permits have fallen 21.9% year-on year.

New-home sales are down about 22% from the peak last July.

“Builders are adopting an increasingly cautious attitude in their near-term outlook for new-home sales,” said David Seiders, chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders. “They’re experiencing falling sales, rising sales cancellations, and increasing inventories of unsold units.

The NAHB reported on Monday that its survey of builder sentiment fell for the eighth straight month in September to the lowest level in 15 years.

The Commerce Department said starts of single-family homes declined 5.9% in August to 1.36 million, the lowest since February 2003. Single-family starts are down 20.6% in the past year.

Permits for new single-family homes fell 3.5% in August to 1.279 million, the lowest since December 2001. Single-family permits are down 25% in the past year.

Starts fell in three of four regions. New construction rose 5.4% in the Northeast, but fell 12.2% in the Midwest, 6.1% in the South and 5.5% in the West.

The government’s housing data are subject to large sampling and other statistical errors. It can take five months for a new trend in housing starts to emerge from the data.

In the past five months, housing starts have averaged 1.81 million, down from 1.87 million in the five months ending in July and 2.115 million in February

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