2018.01.1809:47:00UTC+00U.S. Housing Starts Slump More Than Expected In December

A report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed a steep drop in new residential construction in the U.S. in the month of December.

The report said housing starts tumbled by 8.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.192 million in December from the revised November estimate of 1.299 million.

Economists had expected housing starts to drop to a rate of 1.275 million from the 1.297 million originally reported for the previous month.

The bigger than expected decrease in housing starts came amid a steep drop in single-family starts, which plunged by 11.8 percent to 836,000 in December from 948,000 in November.

On the other hand, the Commerce Department said multi-family starts climbed by 1.4 percent to 356,000 in December from 351,000 in November.

The report also showed decreases in housing starts in all four regions of the country, with the South seeing a notable 14.2 percent slump.

Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, edged down by 0.1 percent to a rate of 1.302 million in December from a revised 1.303 million in November.

Economists had been expecting building permits to drop to a rate of 1.290 million from the 1.298 million originally reported for the previous month.

While single-family permits rose by 1.8 percent to 881,000 in December from 865,000 in November, multi-family permits fell by 3.9 percent to 421,000 from 438,000.

Compared to the same month a year ago, housing starts in December were down by 6.0 percent, while building permits were up by 2.8 percent.