WASHINGTON - Groundbreaking for new homes fell to a 571,000 unit seasonally adjusted annual rate in August, down 5.0% from July. Building permits were up 3.2% to 620,000.
Starts for July were revised to 601,000 from 604,000 reported last month and building permits were also revised to 601,000 from 597,000 initially reported.
Economists expected both housing starts and building permits to be at a 590,000 level in August, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Starts for single family homes slid 1.4%. Multi-family starts fell 12.4%. Single family permits rose 2.5% for August while multi-family permits were up just 0.6%.
Hurricane Irene was likely responsible for an overall 29.1% drop in Northeast starts, with a 14.6% decline in single-family starts. Single-family starts of 33,000 units were a record low for the Northeast.
J.P. Morgan economists said the hurricane "likely disrupted building activity all along the East Coast for a few days toward the end of the month." Most of the effect would be in the Northeast which accounts for more than 10% of the nation's starts each month they said.
There were record lows for both total and single-family homes under construction across the country in August, including record lows in the Northeast, Midwest and South.
