After reporting a sharp increase in new residential construction in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing that U.S. housing starts pulled back by much more than expected in March.
The report said housing starts tumbled by 8.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.089 million in March after jumping by 6.9 percent to a revised 1.194 million in February.
Economists had expected housing starts to dip by about 0.9 percent to a rate of 1.167 million compared to the 1.178 million originally reported for the previous month.
Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, also slumped by 7.7 percent to a rate of 1.086 million in March from a revised 1.177 million in February.
The decrease surprised economists, who had expected building permits to climb 2.8 percent to a rate of 1.200 million from the 1.167 originally reported for the previous month.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Economic News
What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
May 22, 2026 14:46 ET Minutes of the latest Fed policy session was the highlight of the week along with survey data on the U.S. housing market. In Europe, survey data signaled the trends in the euro area private sector. Further, consumer price inflation data from the U.K. was in focus. In Asia, various economic indicators from China drew attention to the health of the economy.