WASHINGTON — In yet another indication of the housing industry woes that have triggered part of the economic downturn, housing starts fell 11% in July, the Commerce Department reported today.

Housing starts declined 29% from July 2007 and were at their lowest level in 17 years. The construction of new homes has fallen in every month except June during the past year.

Housing completions fell 8.7% from June and were down 31.7% from July 2007.

The number of building permits issued for privately owned housing units fell 17.7% from June and 32.4% from July 2007.

Once homes are built, developers have had trouble selling them, as reflected by recent data indicating that new home sales have declined in five of the last six months. In June, the last month for which data have been released, sales of single family homes, fell .6% from May and were down 33.2% from June 2007.