Single-family housing starts in August fell for the second consecutive month in August. Single-family starts were at an annual rate of 417,000, 1.4 percent below the revised July figure of 423,000, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Overall housing starts-including single-family units and multi-family units-were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 571,000, 5.0 percent below the revised July estimate of 601,000 and 5.8 percent below the August 2010 rate of 606,000.
Single-family housing starts in August fell for the second consecutive month in August. Single-family starts were at an annual rate of 417,000, 1.4 percent below the revised July figure of 423,000, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Overall housing starts-including single-family units and multi-family units-were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 571,000, 5.0 percent below the revised July estimate of 601,000 and 5.8 percent below the August 2010 rate of 606,000.
"At this point, most builders are only looking to replenish their depleted inventories of new homes for sale, but otherwise holding off on new projects," said National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Chairman Bob Nielsen, a home builder from Reno, Nev. "While we would like to get more crews back on the job, we need to see solid improvement in consumer demand, greater access to credit for both builders and buyers, and a reduction in the number of foreclosed properties on the market before we can ramp up new production."
"Today's numbers are completely consistent with NAHB's forecast for the quarter, and are in keeping with the anemic economic and job growth we are seeing across most of the country," said NAHB Senior Economist Robert Denk. "We continue to anticipate modest gains in new-home production through the end of this year with greater momentum building into 2013, and some pockets of improvement are already evident in about a dozen metros nationwide."
