October Starts Down 16%

The Census Department reports that housing starts for October racked up a 1.23-million-unit seasonally adjusted annualized rate, down 16.4% from the pace for the same month in 2006. Single family starts fell to an 884,000-unit annualized rate, down 25.1% from October, 2006.
Through the first ten months of this year, some 936,400 homes have been started, down 27.5% from the same period of 2006.
Building permits for October dipped 24.5% from the same month last year to an annualized rate of 1.18 million units. Through the first ten months of this year, nearly 1.22 million permits have been issued, down 24.7% from the same period last year.