Housing starts and residential building permits fell in June to the lowest rate since September, indicating the housing recovery may be slowing, according to a Reuters report on U.S. Department of Commerce numbers.

Residential construction starts fell 9.3 percent to a "seasonally adjusted annual 893,000 unit pace," despite economists last month projecting a 1.02 million-unit rate.

The drop in expected June starts was led by a 30 percent decrease across the South due to heavier-than-expected rains, the Wall Street Journal reported. "Single-family starts in the South dropped to their lowest level in two years," Reuters reported.

"We've had such a wet winter that the development cycle has elongated," said Terry Russell, CEO of FrontDoor Communities, an Atlanta-based builder, according to the Journal. "It's at least two or three months longer [to develop a home lot], and that has a significant impact on starts."

Russell said FrontDoor expects to sell "175 homes this year in Georgia and South Carolina."

Despite the unimpressive figures from the South, which the industry defines as Maryland to Texas, economists say the weather could lead to a bump in starts in the late summer.

Eric Green, global head of research for T.D. Securities, said the weather-related figures don't indicate a downturn in the overall housing market.

Of the 893,000 housing starts in June, 575,000 are for single-family homes, which Reuters reported is "the lowest since November 2012," and 318,000 were multifamily starts.

While the June housing numbers weren't as good as economists expected, the housing market remains in better shape than it was this time in 2013. In the second quarter of this year, single-family home construction was up 4 percent from the same period last year.

Residential building permits were 7.5 percent higher than in June 2013, the Commerce Department data showed.