The US housing construction sector experienced a decline in October as the economy struggled to rise from the recent recession sparked off by the home mortgage meltdown, according to government data released this week.
The US Commerce Department said the construction of privately-owned residential houses fell 10.6 percent from September to an annualized 529,000, much lower than the 600,000 expectation by most economists.
It is 30.7 percent lower than the 763,000 houses in October 2008 as well as below the revised September estimate of 592,000.
The data showed that single-family housing starts, which are 75 percent of the industry, dropped 6.8 percent to 476,000 last month from 511,000 in September.
Permits to build new homes, which are the leading indicators of the industry, also fell 4.0 percent to 552,000 annual rates in October from 575,000 in September.
Most economists had expected that permits in September could reach 580,000.