U.S. Housing Starts Plunge Much More Than Expected In March

(RTTNews) - A report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed new residential construction in the U.S. pulled back by much more than expected in the month of March.

The Commerce Department said housing starts plunged by 11.4 percent to an annual rate of 1.324 million in March after surging by 9.8 percent to a revised rate of 1.494 million in February.

Economists had expected housing starts to tumble by 5.4 percent to an annual rate of 1.420 million from the 1.501 million originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report said building permits jumped by 1.6 percent to an annual rate of 1.482 million in March after falling by 1.0 percent to a revised rate of 1.459 million in February.

Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, were expected to decrease by 0.4 percent to an annual rate of 1.450 million from the 1.456 million originally reported for the previous month.