Housing starts rise less than expected
Thursday, December 17th, 2009Housing starts rise less than expected
WASHINGTON
Wed Dec 16, 2009 8:51am EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New housing starts rose but were lower than expected in November as construction activity for single family dwellings increased only marginally, a government report showed on Wednesday.
The Commerce Department said housing starts increased 8.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 574,000 units. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected housing starts to rise to 580,000 units. However, the percentage increase last month was the largest since May, indicating housing remained on a steady recovery path
October’s housing starts were revised downwards to 527,000 units from the previously reported 529,000 units. Compared to the same period a year-ago, housing starts were down 12.4 percent, but way off the 54.9 percent decline seen in January.
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(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)