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US housing starts, building permits fall short of expectations in February

U.S. privately owned housing starts and building permits declined more sharply than expected in February, after rising in January.

Housing starts declined 7.0% to 1,236,000 in February from the revised January estimate of 1,329,000 and were down 4.0% from a year earlier, the U.S. Census Bureau said.

Econoday's consensus estimate for housing starts was 1,285,000 for February, while the estimates for building permits was 1,322,000.

Single-family housing starts rose 2.9% to 902,000 in February from 877,000 in the previous month. The rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 317,000.

Housing units authorized by building permits decreased 5.7% to an annual rate of 1,298,000 from 1,377,000 in the prior month, but the rate was up 6.5% from a year ago. Single-family authorizations edged down 0.6% to 872,000 from 877,000. The rate of authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more was 385,000 in February.