Los Angeles County - News from Aug. 15, 1994

Home Construction Report: The Commerce Department will release its report on July construction activity on Tuesday, and local home builders will be paying close attention. Rising interest rates have pushed housing starts across the U.S. lower for three straight months, and another decline could shatter developers’ hopes for a late-summer rebound. Some Southern California builders--including Los Angeles-based Kaufman & Broad Home Corp., the state’s largest--have already slashed their sales projections for the year. But what’s bad news for builders could be good news for buyers: The recent sales slowdown is forcing prices down at many housing tracts, which takes some of the sting out of rising interest rates.