WASHINGTON - Coming off the rapid rate of production that closed out 2003, home builders slowed the pace of housing starts to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.903 million units in January, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported. This is 7.9 percent below December's revised estimate of 2.067 million units. However, it is 4.1 percent above the January 2003 rate and 12 percent above the annual total of 1.848 million for 2003, which was the highest in 26 years.
"Builders have just finished an incredibly strong year and we are starting 2004 at a pace that will keep us on track to match 2003's record production," stated Bobby Rayburn, president of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home and apartment builder from Jackson, Miss.