Housing Starts, Construction Permits Drop in February

Housing starts fell in February and construction permits fell to the lowest level in 16 years, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

The 0.6% decline brought the annual rate of housing starts to 1.065 million homes, Commerce said.

Building permits, an indicator of new construction, plunged 7.8% to 978,000 units.

Economists had forecast starts would fall to below 1 million units, Bloomberg reported.