Housing Starts Fall 5%; Building Permits Improve

Housing starts fell 5% in June following expiration in April of a home sales tax credit, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Starts fell to an annual rate of 549,000 units, with single-family units down 0.7% a month after taking their biggest drop since 1991, Commerce said.

The housing starts level was below economists’ forecasts of a 577,000 rate, Bloomberg reported.

Building permits, an indicator of future construction, rose 2.1% to a 586,000 pace, led by multifamily units. Single-family permits dropped 3.4%.