WASHINGTON — Housing starts fell 6.3% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 786,000, the lowest level since 1991, the Commerce Department reported today.
September's figures represent a 31% decline since September 2007. By contrast, in August housing starts fell 8.2%, a figure the department adjusted upward from its original estimate of a 6.2% decline.
Single-family housing starts were 12% below the August level. Single family housing completions were up 7% from the previous month.
Recommended For You
Building permits for private housing fell 8.3% in September and were down 38.4% from September 2007.
The declines in housing starts and in building permits reflect the large number of existing homes that are unsold as a result of the problems in the housing market.
The largest year-to-year decline was in the Northeast, which saw housing starts drop 20.9%. The declines in the West, Midwest and South were 16.8%, 6.6% and .05%, respectively.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
