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US Housing Starts Fall 14.4% To 956,000 Units In August
By Kitco NewsThursday September 18, 2014 8:30 AM
(Kitco News) - U.S. housing starts fell 14.4% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 956,000 units, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
The tally was below the consensus forecasts compiled by most news organizations calling for starts to be around 1.04 million.
August’s construction numbers were down from July’s revised annual rate of 1.2 million units. Compared to a year ago, the data were 8% above the rate of 885,000 in July 2013.
Groundbreaking on single-family homes in August fell 2.4% to a rate of 643,000. Starts for buildings with five units or more was 304,000.
The Commerce Department said the tally of building permits – an important indicator of future construction activity – fell by 5.6% in August to an annualized rate of 998,000. This was up 1.7% from the August 2013 estimate of 948,000 units and down from July’s revised rate of 1.06 mllion.
Authorizations for single-family homes in August fell 0.8% to 626,000. Permits for homes in buildings with five units or more came in at a rate of 343,000 in August.
The government also said completions of privately owned housing units rose 3.2% to an annualized rate of 892,000. The data showed a 16.9% year-on-year gain.
Single-family housing completions in August were down 8.2% to 591,000. The August tally for units in buildings with five units or more was 292,000.
By Debbie Carlson of Kitco News; dcarlson@kitco.com
Follow me on Twitter @dcarlsonkitco
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