Housing Starts Dip 4% in November

Privately-owned housing starts in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 861,000, 3% below the revised October estimate of 888,000, but 21.6% above the Nov. 2011 rate of 708,000, according to the Department of Commerce. Single-family housing starts in November were at a rate of 565,000, 4.1% below the revised October figure of 589,000. The November rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 285,000.

“The starts report for November reflects a readjustment to a more sustainable level of production following significant gains in the previous two months,” said David Crowe, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Washington, D.C. “That said, starts in this quarter are still running well ahead of the third quarter, and we are on track for a projected 25% improvement in housing production for all of 2012.”