Housing starts down; building permits up

Washington -- Housing starts in May fell for the first time in several months but building permits were higher, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported Tuesday.

Privately owned housing starts fell 2.1 percent to seasonally adjusted 1.47 million annual rate, the department said in a news release. In April, revised estimates showed starts rose by 1 percent to 1.5 million.

The May 2007 percentage was 24.2 percent below the revised May 2006 rate of 1.944 million.

Single-family housing starts in May were at a rate of 1.17 million, a 3.4 percent drop from the April figure of 1.211 million, the department said.

Building permits, however, were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.501 million, a 3 percent gain over the revised April rate of 1.46 million.

The May 2007 building permit data, however, was 21.7 percent below the revised May 2006 estimate of 1.91 million.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.