Housing starts fell 6.2% in August

Housing starts fell 6.2% last month from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 895,000 units. That is 33.1% below the figure reported in August 2007, according to a report that the Department of Commerce released this morning. Building permits were reported at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 854,000 units — 8.9% below the revised rate for July of 937,000 units. The number of permits fell 36.4% from a year earlier. On the bright side, permits increased by 1.2% for construction that hasn’t yet started on apartments and buildings with five or more units. And housing starts rose 10.8% in the Western region of the United States. But these numbers were eclipsed by declines in all other regions. These are the lowest numbers reported since 1991, when housing starts fell to an annual rate of 1,035,000 units. Reacting to the Commerce Department’s report, the National Association of Home Builders in Washington said on its website that it still expects housing sales to stabilize in the fourth quarter.