WASHINGTON — A beat-the- deadline rush to file permits for apartment construction in New York lifted housing starts to unexpectedly high levels in June, but it was no cause for rejoicing. Construction of single-family homes nationwide fell to the slowest pace in 17 years.
Builders started work on single-family homes at an annual rate of 647,000 units last month, a drop of 5.3 percent from the previous month, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. It marked the slowest pace for single-family activity since January 1991, another period when housing was going through a severe downturn.
That decline in single-family construction was in contrast to a 42.5 percent surge in apartment building, an increase that was attributed to a change in New York City building codes that triggered a rush by builders to take out applications before new regulations took effect July 1.
With the big surge in apartments in New York, total construction rose by 9.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.066 million units.
