U.S. housing starts plunged to the lowest levels in more than two years last month, the U.S. Census Bureau indicated Tuesday, as mortgage rates remain near multi-decade highs and the job market shows signs of cooling into the autumn months.  August housing starts fell by a much-larger-than-expected 11.3% from July, the Census Bureau said, to an annual run rate of around 1.283 million units, well shy of analysts’ estimates of a 1.44 million tally and the slowest pace since June of 2020. Builders broke ground on new single family homes at an annualized rate of 941,000, down 4.3% from July and again well shy of economists’ forecasts. Permits for new construction, however,, a good indicator of near-term housing demand, rose 6.9% to a rate of 1.543 million units. … July new home sales hit a 17-month high, in fact, rising 4.4% to an annualized rate of 714,000 as mortgage rates nudged past 7$ to the highest levels since 2001.