The number of houses, the construction of which began in the US in August, decreased by 3% from the previous month and amounted to 1.126 million in terms of annual growth, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
According to data, in July the number of new buildings decreased by 4.1%, to 1.161 million, while there was previously reported an increase of the index by 0.2%, to 1.206 million homes.
Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, on average, predicted reduction in the number of new homes last month by 3.8% from the previously announced level, to 1.160 million.
Taken together, the data from the real estate market over the past two months suggest that recovery in this segment will take longer than expected, experts say.
Meanwhile, the number of building permits in the US in August rose 3.5% compared to the previous month and reached 1.170 million homes, based on annual rates. Experts expect an increase by only 2.5%. The number of permits is an indicator of the volume of construction of houses in the near future.
"We continue to see good data on new buildings and permissions in the next few months and early 2016, - predicts the economist at PNC Financial Services Group Inc., Gus Faucher. - Basic factors for the demand for homes are now excellent."
Construction of houses designed for one family, in the last month decreased by 3%, to 739 thousand compared to 762 thousand in July, which was the highest level in seven years. The volume of construction of houses, a more volatile index, in August fell 3%, to 387 thousand in annual terms.
The volume of construction in the Eurozone in July 2015 increased by 1% compared with the previous month, when the decline was 1.2%, according to data of the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat).
In annual terms, the volume of construction rose 1.8% after declining 1.3% in June.
In 28 EU countries, the volume of construction in the last month increased by 0.7% compared with the previous month and by 2.3% on an annualized basis.
Among Member States for which July data is available, the largest increase in construction in the past month was observed in Sweden (4.2%), Germany (3.2%) and Poland (2.2%), and the most noticeable decline in Hungary (-3%), Slovenia (-2.8%) and the UK (-1.3%).
In annual terms, most notably the pace of construction increased in Slovakia (23.4%), Romania (15.1%) and the Czech Republic (14%). The greatest decline in construction is observed in Slovenia (14%), France (-3%) and the UK (-2.3%).