Pursuits

Housing Starts in U.S. Drop to Lowest Level in Three Months

  • All four regions of country show decline, led by Midwest
  • Both single-family and multifamily units see slowdown
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New-home construction in the U.S. unexpectedly cooled in January, indicating there is a limit to how much gains in residential real estate will boost growth at the start of 2016.

Housing starts dropped 3.8 percent to a 1.1 million annualized rate, the weakest in three months, from a 1.14 million pace the prior month, a Commerce Department report showed Wednesday in Washington. The median forecast of 76 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 1.17 million. Permits, a proxy for future construction, were little changed.