The number of housing units started in...

The number of housing units started in the third quarter dropped by 13% from the year-earlier period, mostly because of changes induced by the new tax law, a construction research firm said. Nationwide housing starts totaled 422,933 units in the July-September period, compared to 487,374 in the 1986 period, the F. W. Dodge division of McGraw-Hill Information Systems Co. said. The report said most of the decline was in the multifamily category, which was caused by provisions of the 1987 Tax Reform Act that made such projects less attractive economically.