
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 20, 1991                   TAG: 9102200500
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

HOUSING STARTS DROP 12.8% IN JANUARY

New housing construction plunged 12.8 percent in January to its lowest level since the last recession nine years ago, the government reported today. It was the eleventh drop in the past 12 months.

The Commerce Department said starts totaled a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 850,000 units, the smallest number since construction began on 843,000 units in January 1982.

The drop followed a revised 13.7 percent decline in December, even worse than the 12.4 percent decrease first reported last month. Starts increased 10.1 percent in November, the only advance since January 1990.

Both single-family and multi-family starts fell, with the single-family category dropping 15.6 percent to 632,000 units. That was the lowest since construction began on 613,000 projects in June 1982.

The decline in multi-family units slowed to 3.7 percent, or 218.000 units, after falling 37.4 percent in December. -Associated Press

by CNB