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.
