Initial construction of U.S. homes fell to the lowest level on record in January, according to a government report released Wednesday.
Starts fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 466,000 in January, according to the Commerce Department. That’s the lowest level since the government started keeping records in 1959.
The rate was down 16.8% from December’s revised reading of 547,000, and 56.2% lower than January 2008. Economists were expecting housing starts to decline to 529,000, according to consensus estimates compiled by Briefing.com.
January marked the fourth consecutive month in which housing starts fell to a new record low. Starts have fallen nearly 80% from their peak of 2.3 million in January 2006.
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