US housing starts and building permits fell again in January to new record 50-year lows amid the deepening recession, government data showed on Wednesday.
The Commerce Department said the number of housing starts in January dived 16.8 percent to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 466,000 units from December, far worse than analysts' consensus forecast of 547,000 units.
Permits to build new homes, an indicator of future activity in the housing sector, dropped 4.8 percent from the prior month to an annualised rate of 521,000. That level also was sharply below expectations of 530,000.
Starts and permits were at their lowest pace since the Commerce Department began tracking the data in January 1959 amid a US housing slump at the epicentre of the global financial crisis.
The department revised the December data to a 14.5 percent decline in housing starts and an 11.1 percent fall in building permits.
On an annual basis, starts were down 56.2 percent from January 2008 and permits fell 50.5 percent.
The January numbers indicated no turnaround in sight for the worst real-estate crisis in decades, analysts said.
Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics, said the numbers were "terrible."
"With the inventory of new homes still rising relative to sales, we can't be confident this is the bottom," he said.
The Commerce Department said the number of housing starts in January dived 16.8 percent to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 466,000 units from December, far worse than analysts' consensus forecast of 547,000 units.
Permits to build new homes, an indicator of future activity in the housing sector, dropped 4.8 percent from the prior month to an annualised rate of 521,000. That level also was sharply below expectations of 530,000.
Starts and permits were at their lowest pace since the Commerce Department began tracking the data in January 1959 amid a US housing slump at the epicentre of the global financial crisis.
The department revised the December data to a 14.5 percent decline in housing starts and an 11.1 percent fall in building permits.
On an annual basis, starts were down 56.2 percent from January 2008 and permits fell 50.5 percent.
The January numbers indicated no turnaround in sight for the worst real-estate crisis in decades, analysts said.
Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics, said the numbers were "terrible."
"With the inventory of new homes still rising relative to sales, we can't be confident this is the bottom," he said.
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