Housing Starts Fall 3.7 Percent in November

WASHINGTON — U.S. housing starts fell 3.7 percent in November, with construction of single-family homes sliding to the lowest level in more than 16 years as builders scrambled to cope with a deep drop in sales.

Home building projects started fell to an annual rate of 1.187 million units, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday in a report that was in line with expectations on Wall Street.

Starts on single-family homes tumbled 5.4 percent to an annual pace of 829,000 units, the lowest since April 1991. It was the eighth straight monthly drop in single-family starts.

In addition, permits for future building slipped 1.5 percent to their lowest level since June 1993.