Selective Homes Blog

Housing starts in August fell 5% over the prior month, with the rate of home starts falling to 571,000 units on an annualized basis, compared to 601,000 units in July.

Housing starts also declined 5.8% from August 2010 when the housing start rate hit 606,000 on an annualized basis.

Single-family housing starts fell 1.4% to 417,000 units in August, down 2.7% from July, but up 2.6% from last year.

In terms of home completions, the U.S. home completion rate hit 623,000 units in August, down 2.7% from the July estimate of 640,000 and 2.6% above the August 2010 rate of 607,000.

As housing starts declined, building permits went up in August to an annualized rate of 620,000 permit filings, up 3.2% from July and 7.8% from last year when permits hit an annualized rate of 575,000 units.

"[A] rebound in permits suggests that some of the weakness in starts was weather related as Hurricane Irene likely weighed on new groundbreaking in the Northeast and parts of the South," said analysts with Econoday. "In contrast to starts, housing permits rebounded 3.2%, following a 2.6% contraction in July. Permit issuance is less affected by weather since they are issued indoors."