Builders Probably Began Work on Fewer U.S. Houses in September

Builders in the U.S. probably began work on fewer homes in September, a sign the residential real estate market will be slow to recover from the worst recession since the 1930s, economists said before a report today.

Housing starts fell 3 percent to a 580,000 annual rate, according to the median estimate of 71 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Building permits, a proxy of future production, were little changed, the survey showed.