While the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing that U.S. housing starts fell by much more than expected in the month of April, the report also showed a substantial increase in building permits.
The Commerce Department said housing starts tumbled 16.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 853,000 in April from the revised March estimate of 1.021 million.
Economists had expected housing starts to drop to an annual rate of 969,000 from the 1.036 million originally reported for the previous month.
On the other hand, the report also showed that building permits jumped 14.3 percent to an annual rate of 1.017 million in April from the revised March rate of 890,000.
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