--US June housing starts +3.0% to 1.658-mln-unit rate
--US June housing permits -3.3% to 1.568 mln
--US May housing starts revised to -1.0% from -0.4%
--US May starts rate revised to 1.610 mln from 1.622 mln
--US June single-family starts +1.4%; May revised to -0.7%

By Andrew Williams
Washington, July 18 (BridgeNews) - Ground-breaking for new homes in June climbed 3.0%, the Commerce Department announced Wednesday. Starts totaled a seasonally adjusted 1.658 million units--the highest level since January. But building permits, an indicator of future housing activity, fell 3.3% to an annual rate of 1.568 million, the lowest since December.
Analysts were expecting June starts to run at an annualized rate of 1.600 million units, down from May's revised 1.610 million, and permits also at 1.600 million, below the 1.621 million of the prior month. Analysts have attributed the ongoing strength in housing starts, despite widespread weakness in the broader economy, to a decline in mortgage rates.
However, the housing market might cool off if mortgage rates stop falling or unemployment climbs higher in the second half of the year, some analysts warned.

SINGLE- AND MULTI-FAMILY STARTS:
--Single-family housing starts were up 1.4% to a rate of 1.304 million units.
--Starts on buildings with five or more units, which often swing sharply from month to month, fell 0.3% to 297,000 units.

REGIONAL ACTIVITY:
--The Northeast region of the country, where starts rose 9.2%, led June new housing activity. Housing starts in the South rose 6.6%, but they fell 2.6% in the West and were flat in the Midwest.
DETAILS:
--In June, not seasonally adjusted starts totaled 157,700 units, up 7.8% from a year ago.
--Building permits totaled 149,500 in June on an unadjusted basis, down 3.6% from a year ago.
--For the first half of 2001, starts totaled 810,200, up 0.5% from the comparable 2000 period.