The monthly
report on new residential construction from the Commerce Department revealed on
Thursday that housing starts plummeted by 11.4 per cent m-o-m in March to a
seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.324 million, recording its steepest drop
since March 2024 (-16.0 per cent m-o-m), while
building permits increased by 1.6 per cent m-o-m to a seasonally adjusted
annual rate of 1.482 million, recording its first gain in four months.
Economists had anticipated
housing starts of 1.420 million units in March and building permits of 1.450
million units.
Data for February
was revised to show homebuilding rising at
a pace of 1.494 million units, instead of increasing at a rate of 1.501 million
units as originally reported.
According to
the report, permits for single-family homes, the largest segment of the market,
dropped by 2.0 per cent m-o-m in March, while approvals for the
multi-family homes segment (includes 2 to 4 and 5 or more housing units) surged
by 9.3 per cent m-o-m.
In the meantime, groundbreaking on single-family
homes tumbled by 14.2 per cent m-o-m in March, while multi-unit starts were
flat m-o-m.