WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. single-family homebuilding tumbled in November as higher mortgage rates continued to depress housing market activity.
Single-family housing starts, which account for the bulk of homebuilding, dropped 4.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 828,000 units last month, the Commerce Department reported on Tuesday. Starts for housing projects with five units or more rose 4.8% to a rate of 584,000 units.
That offset some of the drag from single-family housing units, resulting in overall housing starts falling only 0.5% to a rate of 1.427 million units last month.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast starts would slide to a rate of 1.400 million units. Permits for future home construction plunged 11.2% to a rate of 1.342 million units.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)
