U.S. housing starts fall a second month

WASHINGTON — U.S. housing starts declined by 0.9% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.253 million units, the U.S. Commerce Department has reported. Single-family homebuilding increased by 3.5% but was more than offset by a sharp downturn in multi-family dwelling construction. Shortages of land and human resources along with high materials costs contributed to the decline. Building permits for the month plunged by 6.1% to a rate of 1.22 million units.