By Jann Swanson | Mortgage News Daily
Housing starts retrenched in November, taking back much of their spectacular gains of October, while permits continued to display the general weakness that has prevailed since mid-summer. The U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development said initial construction of privately funded residential properties in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,090,000 units, down 18.7 percent from the October rate of 1,340,000 and 6.9 percent lower than in November 2015. Housing starts had jumped by 25.5 percent from September to October, and were up by 23.3 percent year over year. That increase held up through this month’s revision, rising from the original estimate of 1,323,000 units to 1,340,000.
Some backsliding had been expected, but not one as severe. Analysts surveyed by Econoday were looking for housing starts to be in a range of 1.125,000 to 1,290,000. The consensus was 1,230,000.
