Housing Starts Fall 1.1% in February

Housing starts declined 1.1% in February from a three-year high a month earlier, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Starts fell to an annual rate of 698,000 units, from a revised 706,000 in January that was larger than originally reported.

The February rate was lower than economists’ forecasts of a 700,000 rate, Bloomberg reported.

Building permits, an indicator of future construction, increased to 717,000, the highest since October 2008.

Single-family home starts, which account for about 85% of the total, dropped 9.9% to a 457,000 rate.

Work on multifamily units, which is often more volatile, jumped 21% to an annual rate of 241,000.

Starts declined in two of four national regions, led by a 12% decrease in the Northeast.