Housing starts drop 3.7% in November

Ground breakings for new U.S. homes decreased in November, while the number of issued building permits slid to its lowest levels in nearly 15 years, according to a Department of Commerce report. Housing starts fell 3.7% to a seasonally adjusted 1.187 million annual rate in November, after increasing 4.2% in October to 1.232 million. Housing starts for November were 24.2% lower than the level of construction during the same month in 2006. The number of building permits issued fell 1.5% to an annual rate of 1.152 million in November, marking the lowest level since June 1993. Single-family housing starts fell 5.4% to 829,000, compared to the October figure of 876,000. Groundbreakings of apartment buildings—homes with five or more units—rose 4.4% to 332,000. Regionally, housing starts were off 16.3% in the Northeast, 1.5% in the Midwest and lost 6.9% in the West. On a positive note, housing starts increased 0.3% in the South.