West Defies Trend In Housing Starts

Builders slashed housing construction in October to the lowest level in a year. All regions except the West shared in the cutback.

The 5.1 percent decline was broad-based and included both single- and multi-family units, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

Analysts agreed the drop, the second in a row, was further evidence the housing industry had peaked and, like the economy in general, slowed to a more sustainable pace.

Housing starts totaled a seasonally adjusted 1.37 million annual rate in October, down from 1.44 million in September and 10.9 percent below the recent peak of 1.53 million in August, according to the Commerce report.

Regionally, starts were up 6.5 percent in the West, to a 358,000 rate.

But they fell elsewhere - down 9.3 percent in the Northeast to 127,000, 9.2 percent in the Midwest to 277,000 and 8.3 percent in the South to 604,000.