Summary Single-family housing starts drop 7.0% in JuneSingle-family building permits increase 2.2%Multi-family starts fall 11.6%; permits drop 5.6%WASHINGTON, July 19 (Reuters) - U.S. single-family homebuilding fell in June, but permits for future construction rose to a 12-month high as a severe shortage of previously owned houses for sale supports new construction.
The decline in housing starts reported by the Commerce Department on Wednesday partially retraced an abnormally large 18.7% surge in May, which had pushed groundbreaking on single-family housing projects to an 11-month high.
Single-family housing starts, which account for the bulk of homebuilding, dropped 7.0% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 935,000 units last month.
In June, single-family homebuilding fell in the Northeast, Midwest as well as the densely populated South, but jumped 4.6% in the West.
Housing starts and building permitsHOUSING STABILIZING"Today's report continues to suggest stabilization," said Murat Tasci, an economist at JPMorgan in New York.
Persons:
homebuilding, Mark Palim, Fannie, Freddie Mac, Murat Tasci, Nancy Vanden, Lucia Mutikani, Chizu Nomiyama, Andrea Ricci
Organizations:
Commerce Department, Builders, Reuters, Federal, National Association of Home Builders, Treasury, Housing, JPMorgan, Oxford Economics, Thomson
Locations:
WASHINGTON, Fannie Mae, Washington, homebuilding, Northeast, Midwest, Wells Fargo, New York, West, Nancy Vanden Houten, U.S