Apartment Starts Drop to Record Low

Construction of multifamily housing weakened further in October, falling to the lowest number of starts on record. Apartment builders started just 48,000 properties with five or more units in October, the Commerce Department reported. The previous low was reached in July and again in September, when started five-plus apartments had an annual rate of 72,000. According to the National Association of Home Builders, while the government's monthly multifamily production figures tend to be volatile. But until this April, they had not dipped below 90,000 units on a seasonally adjusted basis since 1963. Since April, the multifamily starts rate has gone below 90,000 four times. Apartment completions also have fallen. There were just 200,000 of these in October.