US home construction rose last month, led by apartments
WASHINGTON — U.S. developers broke ground on more homes last month, but the increase occurred entirely in apartments. The construction of new single-family houses fell.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that housing starts rose 3.2 per cent in November from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate 1.26 million. Despite the increase, that is down 3.6 per cent from a year ago. Single-family starts dropped 4.6 per cent in November and are down 13.1 per cent from a year earlier.
Some of the data likely have been distorted by extreme weather. Home-building jumped 15.1 per cent last month in the South in the aftermath of Hurricanes Florence and Michael. And home construction fell 14.2 per cent in the West, possibly because of wildfires in California. Single-family homebuilding fell in the West by the most since February 2009.
Still, rising mortgage rates have dragged down home sales in the past year, discouraging many builders and causing a slump in the overall housing market. Sales of new and existing homes are dropping and home price gains are slowing.