The monthly
report on new residential construction from the Commerce Department revealed on
Tuesday that housing starts declined by 3.1 per cent m-o-m in October to a seasonally
adjusted annual pace of 1.311 million, while building permits dropped by 0.6 per cent m-o-m to a
seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.416 million.
Economists had foreseen
housing starts of 1.330 million units for October and building permits of 1.430
million units.
Data for September
was revised to show homebuilding rising at
a pace of 1.353 million units, instead of increasing at a rate of 1.354 million
units as originally announced.
According to
the report, permits for single-family homes, the largest segment of the market,
increased by 0.5 per cent m-o-m in October, while approvals for the
multi-family homes segment (includes 2 to 4 and 5 or more housing units) fell
by 3.0 per cent m-o-m.
In the meantime, groundbreaking on single-family
homes plunged by 6.9 per cent m-o-m in October, while multi-unit starts surged
by 9.8 per cent m-o-m.