Construction of new homes slipped for a second month in August, providing fresh evidence that the nation’s housing boom may be cooling.

The Commerce Department reported that construction of new homes and apartments dropped 1.3 percent last month after a decline of 1.5 percent in July. It marked the first back-to-back declines in housing starts since early 2004.

Even with the declines, housing construction totaled 2.01 million units in August, the eighth month out of the past nine that housing has been above the 2-million mark.

Hurricane Katrina had little impact on the August data since the storm hit late in the month, but analysts predicted a more adverse impact in September, reflecting forced shutdowns of construction sites in Gulf Coast areas.