A report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed new residential construction in the U.S. pulled back by much more than expected in the month of March.

The Commerce Department said housing starts plunged by 11.4 percent to an annual rate of 1.324 million in March after surging by 9.8 percent to a revised rate of 1.494 million in February.

With the much sharper than expected pullback, housing starts slumped to their lowest since hitting an annual rate of 1.305 million last November.

The steep drop by housing starts largely reflected a nosedive by single-family starts, which plummeted by 14.2 percent to an annual rate of 940,000. Multi-family starts also tumbled by 3.5 percent to an annual rate of 384,000.

Meanwhile, the report said building permits jumped by 1.6 percent to an annual rate of 1.482 million in March after falling by 1.0 percent to a revised rate of 1.459 million in February.

Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, were expected to decrease by 0.4 percent to an annual rate of 1.450 million from the 1.456 million originally reported for the previous month.

Multi-family permits spiked by 9.3 percent to an annual rate of 504,000, more than offsetting a 2.0 percent slump by single-family permits to a rate of 978,000.

Powered by Commodity Insights