Housing starts fell 0.5% to 1.354 million units in September, according to Reuters. Economists had expected starts to fall to a rate of 1.350 million units.
Applications for building permits, a good indication of future activity, fell 2.9% to 1.428 million units in September.
Single-family housing starts rose 2.7% to a rate of 1.027 units. Multifamily starts fell 4.5% to a rate of 317,000 units. Building permits for single-family homes rose 0.3% to a rate of 970,000 units, and permits for multifamily homes dropped 10.8% to a rate of 398,000 units.
The number of houses approved for construction that were yet to be started fell 0.7% to 282,000 units. Overall housing completions decreased 5.7% to a rate of 1.680 million units.
