18.10.201708:38:00UTC+00U.S. Housing Starts Slump Much More Than Expected In September

After reporting an unexpected drop in new residential construction in the U.S. in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing housing starts continued to see substantial weakness in the month of September.

The Commerce Department said housing starts plunged by 4.7 percent to an annual rate of 1.127 million in September from the revised August estimate of 1.183 million. Housing starts has been expected to edge down by 0.5 percent.

Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, also tumbled by 4.5 percent to an annual rate of 1.215 million in September from a revised 1.272 million in August. Economists had expected building permits to drop by 2.9 percent.