The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Thursday morning that new housing starts in August fell sharply to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 956,000, a decrease of 14.4% from the upwardly revised July rate of 1.117 million and an increase of 8% compared with the August 2013 rate of 885,000. The consensus estimate from a survey of economists expected a rate of around 1.038 million.

The seasonally adjusted rate of new building permits also fell sharply, to 998,000, down 5.6% from the upwardly revised July rate of 1.057 million but 5.3% above the August 2013 rate of 948,000. The consensus estimate called for a rise to 1.055 million permits in August.

Single-family housing starts slipped to an annualized rate of 643,000 in August, down 2.4% from the upwardly revised July rate of 659,000.

Permits for new single-family homes fell 0.8% in August to an adjusted annual rate of 626,000 from a downwardly revised total of 631,000 in July.

Multifamily starts, for buildings with five or more units, a more volatile number than single-family starts, rose 17.5% year-over-year in August.

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