The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Tuesday morning that new housing starts in March fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.089 million, a decrease of 8.8% from the upwardly revised February rate of 1.194 million and an increase of 14.2%, compared with the March 2015 rate of 954,000. The consensus estimate from a survey of economists expected a rate of around 1.167 million.
The revision to the February rate added 16,000 new housing starts to the previously reported total.
The seasonally adjusted rate of new building permits slipped in March to 1.086 million, down 7.7% from the upwardly revised February rate of 1.177 million and 4.6% above the March 2015 rate of 1.038 million. The consensus estimate called for 1.2 million new building permits.
Single-family housing starts fell to an annualized rate of 764,000 in March, down 9.2% from the revised February rate of 841,000. Single-family starts rose nearly 23% year over year in March.
Permits for new single-family homes fell 1.2% month over month in March, to an adjusted annual rate of 727,000, from a revised total of 736,000 in February.
Multifamily starts for buildings with five or more units rose by 0.3% year over year in March and by fell by 8.5% compared with February.
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