WASHINGTON – The United States Commerce Department reported that housing starts rose 2.3% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.467 million following downward revisions for the previous two months. However, building permits were down sharply for both single-family and multi-family construction. Permit authorizations fell to their lowest level since December 1996 and now stand 43% below the recent peak in the fall of 2005. Although single-family starts slipped by 0.2% in June, multi-family starts increased 12.5%.

National Assn. of Home Builders Chief Economist David Seiders said, “We expect to see further erosion in housing starts during the second half of the year. However, we expect to see signs of stabilization by the end of this year and we’re projecting a gradual recovery process in 2008.” Read more.