Housing Starts Nearly Unchanged in July

The U.S. Census Bureau announced Tuesday that new residential construction in July remained flat since June, declining 0.1 percent to an annual rate of 2,042,000 units. Single-family starts took a slight turn upward, advancing 0.5 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,703,000.

Regionally, starts in the Northeast rose 6.5 percent, the Midwest recorded a 9.1 percent jump, while starts in the West rose 2.1 percent and groundbreaking in the South delclined 5.4 percent.

Building completions in July nosedived 6.3 percent below June's numbers. Single-family completions, likewise dipped 3.6 percent to a 1,669,000 annual rate.

On the brighter side, privately-owned building permits pulled in July rose 1.6 percent, to seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2,167,000. Of those, 1,686,000 were for single family dwellings, a 2.0 percent improvement above June's numbers.

Both housing starts and permits issued showed improvements over July 2004.