Housing Starts Fall to Five-Month Low; Building Permits Increase

Housing starts fell to a five-month low in April, while building permits jumped to the highest level in almost five years, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Building permits, an indicator of future construction activity, jumped 14.3% to a 1.02 million annual rate.

The 16.5% drop in housing starts to an annual rate of 853,000 units was the biggest decline in more than a year.

March’s 7% jump to a 1.04 million rate had been the highest in almost five years.

Economists had forecast an annual rate of 970,000 in April, Bloomberg News reported.

Single-family unit construction fell 2.1% to an annual rate of 610,000 units, while multifamily unit construction fell 38.9%.