Housing Starts Drop Again

Housing construction fell for the fourth consecutive month in June, posting the longest string of declines in six years as builders continued cutting back after a jump in mortgage rates this spring, the government reported today.

The Commerce Department said construction of new homes and apartments dropped 0.7% last month. Fixed-rate mortgages declined to around 9% at the end of March, and then shot up to 10.8% in late May 22. Rates had dropped back to 10.23% as of today, the Federal Home Loan Mortage Corp. said.