ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, August 17, 1996              TAG: 9608190038
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: A-8  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

RATES STILL HURTING NEW HOME PACE

New home construction slowed for a third straight month in July as high mortgage rates cut into sales.

Housing starts slipped 1.3 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted 1.46 million annual rate, smallest since 1.44 million in March, the report said. Builders had laid foundations at a 1.48 million rate in June.

``Our second half outlook is for the market to weaken further,'' said economist David Seiders of the National Association of Home Builders, ``but we're still talking about a 5 percent increase over 1995.''

In fact, starts during the first seven months of 1996 were 12.4 percent above those of the same period a year ago. Starts for all of 1995 totaled 1.35 million.

But sales of new and existing homes both fell in June, and a Home Builders membership survey earlier this month suggested continued shrinkage. The association's Housing Market Index, based on the survey, fell for a third straight month as both sales and buyer traffic waned.

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