Residential construction has up-and-down July

Building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,119,000, down 16.3 percent from the revised June rate, but up 7.5 percent from July 2014, according to a joint report issued by the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development.

There were 1,206,000 housing starts in July 2015, up 0.2 percent from June and up 10.1 percent from July 2014. Privately-owned housing completions increased by 2.4 percent.

For information, go to www.census.gov/starts.