Home building fell sharply in July to a 17-year low, according to government readings released Tuesday that offered fresh signs that the battered real estate market has yet to hit bottom.
Housing starts plunged 11% to an annual rate of 965,000 from a revised 1.084 million pace in June, according to the Census Bureau report. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast starts would fall to a rate of 960,000.
Permits - often seen as a sign of builders' confidence in the housing market - tumbled 17% to an annual rate of 937,000 from a revised 1.138 million in June. Economists had forecast that permits would come in at 959,000.
The sharp percentage drop from June was due partly to a jump in multi-family home starts and permits during that month. Single-family home starts and permits slipped only slightly from the June level. But the single-family starts were also at a 17-year low in July, while single-family permits fell to a level not seen since the 1982 recession, reaching a rate of only 584,000 homes in July.
