Housing Starts Fall to Lowest Level in a Year

June housing starts fell 9.9% to the lowest level in a year, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

Starts dropped to an annual rate of 836,000 units in June, the least since August 2012, from a revised 928,000 pace in May that was higher than originally reported.

Building permits, an indicator of future construction activity, fell 7.5% to a 911,000 annual pace.

Economists had forecast an annual rate of 960,000 housing starts in June, Bloomberg News reported.

Single-family unit construction fell 0.8% to an annual rate of 591,000 units, the fewest since November, while multifamily unit construction fell 26.2%.

All four regions had a drop in starts in June, led by a 12.1% decline in the Northeast and a 12% decline in the South, Commerce said.