September U.S. housing starts tumble

Washington -- The U.S. housing market got more bad news Wednesday, when a government agency reported housing starts in September fell to their lowest point in 14 years.

Housing starts in September dropped to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.19 million, 10.2 percent below the revised August estimate of 1.32 million, the Commerce Department's U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development divisions jointly announced in a news release.

In a year-over-year comparison, September starts were 30.8 percent below the revised September 2006 rate of 1.72 million.

Single-family housing starts in September were 963,000, or 1.7 percent below the August figure of 980,000, the agencies said.

Building permits were down in September, with the department reporting a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.23 million, 7.3 percent below the revised August rate of 1.32 million and 25.9 percent below the revised September 2006 estimate of 1.65 million.

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