Housing starts up in July
Single-family housing starts grew nearly 2% nationwide in July from the previous month.
The U.S. Commerce Department said that construction of new single-family homes rose for the fifth-straight month in July. Building permits for future construction climbed nearly 6%.
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 560,000. This is 1.8 percent below the revised June rate of 570,000 and is 39.4 percent below the July 2008 estimate of 924,000.
Single-family authorizations in July were at a rate of 458,000; this is 5.8 percent above the revised June figure of 433,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 84,000 in July.
Privately-owned housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 581,000. This is 1.0 percent below the revised June estimate of 587,000 and is 37.7 percent below the July 2008 rate of 933,000.
Single-family housing starts in July were at a rate of 490,000; this is 1.7 percent above the revised June figure of 482,000.
The July rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 80,000.
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