Housing starts fell 11.4% to a rate of 1.324 million units in March after rising in February, according to Reuters. Economists had expected starts to fall to a rate of 1.42 million units.
Applications for building permits, a good indication of future activity, rose 1.6% to 1.482 million units in March.
Single-family housing starts fell 14.2% to a rate of 940,000 units, hitting an eight-month low. Multifamily starts were unchanged at a rate of 371,000 units. Building permits for single-family homes fell 2% to a rate of 978,000 units, and permits for multifamily homes rose 10.1% to a rate of 445,000 units.
The completions rate for the single-family housing segment grew 0.9% to 1.029 million.
