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U.S. housing starts fall 5.8 percent in August

Xinhua, September 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

U.S. housing starts fell in August and applications for building permits fell slightly compared with the prior month, U.S. Department of Commerce reported on Tuesday.

U.S. privately-owned housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,142,000 last month, 5.8 percent below the revised July rate and 0.9 percent above the year-ago level.

Single-family housing starts in August were 722,000, 6 percent below the revised July figure of 768,000.

Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits, a gauge of future construction, were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,139,000, down 0.4 percent from the revised July rate and 2.3 percent below the August 2015 estimate.

The U.S. housing market has been solid in the first half of 2006 driven by sustained job growth and falling mortgage rates; however, narrowing stocks and advancing prices have darken its future growth prospects, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Endi