Housing Loses Some Ground

ByJohn S. McClenahen Rising interest rates for home mortgages factored into the decline in housing starts in August -- and are likely to dampen demand in the months to come. Starts for privately owned housing in the U.S. in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.82 million, 3.8% below the revised July figure of 1.892 million, the U.S. Commerce Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly reported on Sept. 17. August's figure also was below the 1.83 annual rate that many economists expected. Starts for single-family housing were at an annual rate of 1.476 million in August, 4% below July's mark of 1.537 million.