Housing Starts Decline in July

Housing starts fell in July for the first time in three months, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Starts fell 1% to an annual rate of 581,000 units.

Single-family home construction, which accounts for 75% of the industry, rose 1.7%% to a 490,000 annual rate, Commerce said. Single-family construction reached its highest level since October, and has been rising since March, Bloomberg said.

Economists had forecast starts to rise to an annual pace of 599,000 after an initially reported 582,000 pace in June.

Starts dropped 16% in the Northeast, 1.6% in the West and 1.4% in the South. The Midwest saw a 13% gain.