US home construction falls 6% in January but permits up
Feb 18, 2021 | 6:53 AM
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WASHINGTON — U.S. home construction fell 6% in January but applications for building permits, which typically signal activity ahead, rose sharply.
Last month’s decline pushed home and apartment construction down to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.58 million units in January, compared with 1.68 million in December, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
Single-family construction starts dropped 12.2% while construction of apartment units rose 16.2%.
Applications for building permits, considered a good sign of future activity, were up 10.4% in January to an annual rate of 1.88 million units.
