SF Housing Starts Fall 7.3%

Single-family housing starts fell 7.3% in July as builders are becoming more cautious in the face of tough credit conditions, slowing consumer demand and offering little hope of any improvement for the rest of the year.The U.S. Census Bureau reported that single-family housing starts declined from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.15 million in June to 1.07 million in July. Single-family starts are off by 25% since July 2006, and National Association of Home Builders economists are forecasting starts will be off by a 32% annual rate by the end of the third quarter. "We now expect home sales to trail downward over the balance of the year, and we are not looking for a sustained improvement in housing starts until the second half of 2008," NAHB chief economist David Seiders said in an Aug. 16 report. Single-family starts will be down to 1995 levels by mid-2008 -- off 41% from the peak of 1.81 million in January 2006, according to "The Seiders Report."