WASHINGTON — Construction of new homes plummeted to a 17-1/2-year low in August as builders scaled back sharply to try to cope with the deep housing slump.
The Commerce Department said Wednesday that starts on new homes fell 6.2% from July, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 895,000, lowest since 1991 and well below the 950,000 rate that economists surveyed by Reuters had anticipated.
The August rate of starts on single-family homes was down 1.9% to 630,000, which also was the softest rate since the start of 1991.
Starts in August were a whopping 33% below the level a year earlier.
Click here to read the entire story.
Source: USA Today