Single and multifamily housing starts plummeted 29.6 percent in the South, the nation’s largest region, for June, according to figures released by the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Census Bureau, bringing down the national average to minus 9.3 percent. The other three regions of the country all posted gains– the Northeast increased 14.1 percent, the Midwest was up 28.1 percent, and the West rose 2.6 percent—as the seasonally-adjusted annual rate hit just 893,000. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) further tells MHProNews single-family housing starts were down to 575,000 units in June, while multifamily production fell 9.9 percent to 318,000 units. Building permits for June fell 4.2 percent to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 963,000 units, of which multifamily permits comprised 332,000, registering a 14,9 percent drop, while single-family permits gained 2.6 percent to 631,000 units.##
