Housing starts in the U.S. came in well above estimates in the month of April, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday, although the report also showed a sharp drop in building permits.
The report showed that housing starts rose 2.6 percent to an annual rate of 717,000 in April from the revised March estimate of 699,000. Economists had expected housing starts to increase to 690,000 from the 654,000 originally reported for the previous month.
At the same time, the Commerce Department said that building permits fell 7.0 percent to an annual rate of 715,000 in April from the revised March rate of 769,000.
Building permits, which are seen as an indicator of future housing demand, had been expected to drop to 725,000 from the 747,000 originally reported for March.
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