by Calculated Risk on 9/19/2006 10:48:00 AM

The Census Bureau reports: New Residential Construction in August 2006

Privately-owned housing starts in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,665,000. This is 6.0 percent below the revised July estimate of 1,772,000 and is 19.8 percent below the August 2005 rate of 2,075,000.

Single-family housing starts in August were at a rate of 1,360,000; this is 5.9 percent below the July figure of 1,445,000.

Click on graph for larger image.
Comparing housing starts to residential construction employment (SA), it appears the BLS numbers should indicate housing related job losses soon.

Even if housing stabilizes at this level, there are probably 600K residential construction jobs (BLS reported) that will be lost.