New US home construction continued to decline in November and permits plunged as high borrowing costs paired with widespread inflation eroded housing affordability and demand. Residential starts decreased 0.5% last month to a 1.43 million annualized rate. Single-family homebuilding dropped to an annualized 828,000 rate, the lowest since May 2020. Applications to build, a proxy for future construction, decreased 11.2% to an annualized 1.34 million units. Permits for construction of one-family homes fell 7.1% to the weakest pace since 2020. …Multifamily starts increased, while permits for new construction declined to a more than one-year low. Groundbreakings on single-family homes dropped in the South and Midwest, while permits declined in three of four regions. Meanwhile, the number of homes completed jumped nearly 11% to an annualized 1.49 million, the highest since August 2007 and a sign builders are making greater progress on backlogs amid a demand pullback.