Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

Tue 06 Jun 2007US housing starts fall 2% in MayThe pace of US home building fell 2.1 per cent in May to a slightly lower rate than analysts had expected, a government report showed today.The Commerce Department said housing starts set an annual pace of 1.474 million units in May compared with a 1.506 million unit pace in April. Economists had forecast May housing starts to drop sharply to a 1.480 million unit pace from the 1.528 million rate originally reported for April last month.