Housing Starts Decline 5.9%

Housing starts fell 5.9% in February, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Starts rose to an annual rate of 575,000 units, Commerce said, following January’s revised 611,000 rate. The level was within economists’ projections, Bloomberg reported.

Building permits, an indicator of future construction, fell 1.6% to a 612,000 annual rate, Commerce said. Economists had predicted permits would fall to a 601,000-unit rate.

Single-family home starts, which account for about 85% of starts, slipped 0.6% to a 499,000 annual rate. Work on multifamily units, which are often more volatile, plunged 30% to a 76,000 rate.

The decrease was led by a 16% downturn in the South region and a 9.6% decline in the Northeast. Starts rose 11% in the Midwest and 7.9% in the West.