U.S. housing permits drop 0.4% in August: Commerce Department
WASHINGTON—Fewer building permits were issued in the U.S. last month, and housing starts slumped, but underlying data suggests there is modest momentum for single-family home building.
Building permits issued for privately owned housing units fell 0.4% in August from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual level of 1.139 million, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Housing starts last month fell 5.8% from July to an annual rate of 1.142 million. Both readings came in below economists’ forecasts.
But permits for single-family homes, about 60% of all permits, increased 3.7% last month, the largest gain since June 2014 and suggesting a break between that segment and apartment and condominium building. The August decrease in starts was in part driven by a sharp decline in the South, an area of the country hit with heavy rain and flooding last month.
Through the first eight months of the year, permits were down 0.8% compared with 2015, but single-family permits were up 8.4%, year to date. Single-family starts were up 9.1% through eight months.
Relatively stronger momentum for single-family home construction suggests that builders are responding to rising prices and steady demand for that segment, while construction of larger properties is cooling.
