WASHINGTON (AP) — Construction companies built more apartment complexes in September, sparking a temporary rise in housing starts for a real estate market that otherwise appears to have crested this summer.
The Commerce Department says housing starts last month rose 6.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.21 million homes. But a 17 percent surge in multi-family housing — which includes apartments — accounts for almost all of that increase.
New construction and sales of existing homes surged in the first half of the year as more Americans found work. But rising prices and the absence of meaningful wage growth have capped growth as affordability became an issue.
Approved permits fell 5 percent in September to an annual rate of 1.1 million, a sign of construction slowing in the coming months.
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