Private housing starts in the U.S. fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,287,000 units in April, a decline of 3.7% from the revised 1,336,000 in March, the Census Bureau said.
Compared with April 2017, housing starts were up 10.5% last month.
Single-family housing starts ticked up 0.1% to 894,000 from the revised figure of 893,000 in the previous month. The rate for buildings with five units or more was 374,000.
Housing units authorized by building permits came in at 1,352,000 in April, down 1.8% from March but up 7.7% from the same month a year ago.
Housing units authorized by building permits for single families edged up 0.9% to 859,000 in April from the revised 851,000 a month ago. Authorizations of units in buildings with at least five units came in at 450,000.
