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WASHINGTON : US housing starts unexpectedly slumped in October as the economy struggles to emerge from a recession sparked off by a home mortgage meltdown, government data showed Wednesday.
The Commerce Department said that construction starts on privately-owned homes dived 10.6 percent from September to an annualized 529,000, much lower than the 600,000 expected by most economists.
It was below the revised September estimate of 592,000 and 30.7 percent lower than the October 2008 rate of 763,000, the department said.
Single-family housing starts, which account for 75 percent of the industry, fell 6.8 percent to 476,000 in October from the revised September figure of 511,000, the data showed.
Permits to build new homes, a leading indicator of the sector, fell 4.0 percent to an annual rate of 552,000 in October from a revised rate of 575,000 a month earlier.
Most economists had expected 580,000 permits for September.
- AFP/ir
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