New housing starts steady in October

Nationwide housing starts were virtually unchanged in October from the previous month, rising 0.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.53 million units, the Commerce Department reported Nov. 17.

"This report indicates we are experiencing a good, solid, stable housing market," said home builder Robert Mitchell, president of the National Association of Home Builders, in an NAHB release.

"Our most recent surveys of home builders indicate that they are more confident about the future and that traffic of prospective buyers is on the rise. This is mainly due to the fact that rates on long-term mortgages have declined since May and stabilized below 8 percent over the past several weeks."

Single-family homes were started at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.227 million in October, off a scant 0.2 percent from the previous month's total of 1.229 million units. Multifamily starts edged up to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 305,000 units in October, up 4,000 from September's total.

Regionally, housing starts were mixed, with gains of 6.7 percent and 7.6 percent posted in the Midwest and South, while the Northeast and West registered declines of 3.1 percent and 15.9 percent, respectively.

Residential building permits, which can be an indicator of future building activity, edged up 1.3 percent to a rate of 1.54 million units in October.

NAHB is forecasting that total housing starts this year will be just less than 1.6 million units, down 4.6 percent from last year's exceptionally strong rate of 1.67 million units.