Privately-owned housings starts in the U.S. declined more than -14% year-over-year in March, as indicated by the latest data from the U.S. Census and Commerce Department .
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.139 million was also -0.3% below the revised February estimate of 1.142 million. The figure even fell short of the 1.230 million units expected by economists polled by Reuters.
The count of building permits for privately‐owned housing decreased by -7.8% year-over-year to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,269,000 in March. It is a -1.7% drop from the revised February rate.
As for the single‐family category in particular, housing starts in March dipped to a rate of 785,000, which is -0 .4% below the revised February figure of 788,000. Single‐family housing authorization number in March came in at 808,000, reflecting a -1.1% decline from the revised February figures.