Good news! Housing starts continue to freefall.
This is good, at least for Housing, as it no longer adds to the enormous pile of unsold inventories that need to be worked through. (Its bad news for the economy, though).
• Single-Family home starts (permits) fell 3.8% to 532,000, a 26-Year Low;
• Starts on all residential properties dropped to
817,000 (way below consensus);
• Privately-owned housing starts in September were 31.1% (±8.3%) below the revised September 2007 rate of 1,185,000.
• Construction of single-family homes dropped 12% to a 544,000 annual rate;
• Housing completions in September were 20.4% (±9.6%) below the revised September 2007
• Residential Building permits fell 8.3% to 786,000, a 27-year low.
Rex Nutting adds: “Housing starts were off 31% in the past year and were down more than 60% from the peak in early 2006. In the past year, permits for single-family homes have dropped 39%, single-family starts have fallen 42%, and single-family completions have sunk 27%.”
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Source:
NEW RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION IN SEPTEMBER 2008
U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development
OCTOBER 17, 2008 AT 8:30 A.M. EDT
http://www.census.gov/const/newresconst.pdf
See also:
Housing starts fall to second-lowest rate in 50 years
Building permits drop 8% to a 27-year low, government data show
Rex Nutting
MarketWatch, 11:07 a.m. EDT Oct. 17, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/6xm2ov
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