?EUR??,,????'??We had expected to see a slowdown and this confirms it,?EUR??,,????'?? said Michael Carliner, senior economist at the National Association of Home Builders.

Privately-owned housing starts in December were at a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.933 million, down from November?EUR??,,????'???s 2.121 million and 5.7 percent below the December 2004 rate of 2.05 million.

Single family housing starts in December were at a rate of 1.577 million units, 12.3 percent below the November figure of 1.798 million. The December rate for units on buildings with five units or more was 322,000.An estimated 2.064 million housing units were started in 2005, which is 5.6 percent above the 2004 figure of 1.955 million units.

Privately-owned housing completions in December were at a rate of 1.665 million; this is 3.8 percent above the November figure of 1.604 million. The December rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 245,000.

The rate of privately-owned housing units by building permits also dropped in December, to 2.068 million units. This was a 4.4 percent decline from November 2005 and 0.6 percent below December 2004.

Construction activity fell in every part of the country except the South where building rose by 5.2 percent, a gain that may have reflected the start of rebuilding following last fall’s devastating hurricanes.