Housing Starts Fall 4.5% in October

New housing starts declined 4.5% in October, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

The decline to an annual rate of 791,000 was the lowest since records began being kept in 1959, Bloomberg reported.

Total starts were projected to fall to an annual rate of 780,000 units, Bloomberg said.

Building permits, an indicator of new construction, plunged 12% to an annual pace of 786,000 units.