Diana Olick | CNBC
September housing starts came in 9 percent below August and 12 percent below September 2015, according to the U.S. Census, but those big drops belie a huge improvement for the market, at least in this monthly read.
Those numbers are totals, based on both single-family homes, which are desperately needed, and multifamily apartments, which have seen a construction boom over the last three years.
The drop in housing starts was driven entirely by a big swing lower in multifamily construction. That may be a one-month phenomenon, because numbers on multifamily can be swayed dramatically by just a few large-scale apartment developments.
