Housing Starts in U.S. Probably Rose in June for Second Month

Housing starts in the U.S. probably rose in June for a second month as the industry struggled to recover in the face of foreclosures and rising unemployment, economists said before a report today.

Construction began on 575,000 houses at an annual rate, up 2.7 percent from May, according to the median projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Building permits, an indicator of future projects, fell 2.3 percent to a 595,000 rate, the survey showed.