US HOUSING STARTS FALL AS APARTMENTS COLLAPSE

U.S. housing starts fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.221 million in September, down 5.2% from August and 7.4% from a year earlier, the Census Bureau and HUD reported Tuesday. Single-family starts actually rose 2.6% year-over-year to 859,000, but construction of buildings with five or more units collapsed 25.9% over the same period to just 349,000. Builders are pulling back hard on apartments while single-family activity holds steady, a split that shows up directly in names like $ITB.