U.S. housing starts down 5.3 percent in June

The housing starts in the United States declined by 5.3 percent in June and analysts said that it was the latest sign the U.S. housing market is cooling down.

The U.S. Commerce Department said in a report on Wednesday that the housing starts in June dropped to an annual rate of 1.850 million units, down from a revised 1.953 million unit pace in May. It was also weaker than the average forecast of private economists of a pace of 1.920 million units.

U.S. single-family housing starts fell by 6.5 percent to an annual pace of 1.486 million units, the slowest since November 2004.

Meanwhile, building permits, an indicator of future trends of U. S. housing market, also fell by 4.3 percent in the month to an annual pace of 1.862 million.

U.S. housing starts in June was down 11 percent from the same month a year ago and building permits are off 14.9 percent, the report indicated.