Housing Starts Rise; Permits Plunge

Housing starts rose for a third straight month in April but building permits fell to a 10-year low, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

New starts rose to a 1.528 million-unit annual rate, up 2.5% from March, Commerce said.

Building permits, an indicator of future construction, plunged 8.9% rose to an annual rate of 1.429 million, the lowest since June 1997, Commerce said.