U.S. Housing Starts Fell in September

[mahatmakanejeeves]

I started looking for articles this morning at https://www.wsj.com/ . I clicked on this link and was able to read the full article.

ECONOMY ECONOMIC DATA

U.S. Housing Starts Fell in September

Broader trend shows continued construction growth, as starts grew by 6.4% in the first nine months of 2018 compared with the same period a year earlier.

By Sarah Chaney and Sharon Nunn

https://twitter.com/sechaney
[e-mail]
https://twitter.com/sharonmnunn
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Oct. 17, 2018 8:33 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON—U.S. housing starts declined in September, as single-family-home and apartment building construction dropped from August.

Housing starts fell 5.3% in September from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.201 million, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Residential building permits, which can signal how much construction is in the pipeline, also fell, declining 0.6% from August to an annual pace of 1.241 million last month. ... Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected a 4.8% drop for starts and a 3.3% gain for permits in September.

Housing-starts data are volatile from month to month and can be subject to large revisions. September’s 5.3% drop for starts came with a margin of error of 11.3 percentage points. ... To be sure, the broader trend shows continued construction growth, as starts grew by 6.4% in the first nine months of 2018 compared with the same period a year earlier.

Starts declined 0.9% in September from the prior month for single-family construction and dropped 12.9% for multifamily construction. Permits last month were down 9.3% for buildings with five or more units and were up 2.9% for single-family homes compared with August.
....

Write to Sarah Chaney at [e-mail] and Sharon Nunn at [e-mail]

[sandensea]

1. It's worth noting also that 1.2 million was considered weak before the Bush debacle.

Housing starts averaged 1.53 million from 1946 to 2007. They've averaged 920,000 since then.

Thanks for always keeping up with these news, mkj. It must feel daunting sometimes.