Housing starts fell 3.1% to 1.311 million units in October, according to Reuters. Economists had expected starts to fall to a rate of 1.330 million units.
Applications for building permits, a good indication of future activity, fell 0.6% to 1.416 million units in October.
Single-family housing starts fell 6.9% to a rate of 970,000 units. Multifamily starts jumped 9.8% to a rate of 326,000 units. Building permits for single-family homes rose 0.5% to a rate of 968,000 units, and permits for multifamily homes dropped 3% to a rate of 393,000 units.
The number of houses approved for construction that were yet to be started fell 1.1% to 279,000 units. Overall housing completions decreased 4.4% to a rate of 1.614 million units.
