Housing starts dropped 8.1% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.439 million units, and single-family home starts fell to the lowest level in more than two years, according to reuters.com. Economists expected starts to come in at a rate of 1.475 million units.
Applications for building permits, a good indication of future activity, rose 1.4% to 1.564 million units in September.
Single-family housing starts fell 4.7% to a rate of 892,000 units, and multifamily starts fell 13.1% to a rate of 530,000 units after surging more than 30% in August. Building permits for single-family homes declined 3.1% to a rate of 872,000 units.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was at an average of 6.94% during the week of Oct. 10, which is the highest since 2002 and up from 3.22% at the beginning of 2022.
Permits for future home construction rose 1.4% to a rate of 1.564 million units in September, but the gain was in multifamily projects.
