2019.02.2608:40:00UTC+00U.S. Housing Starts Plunge Much More Than Expected In December

A government shutdown-delayed report released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday showed a much steeper than expected drop in U.S. housing starts in the month of December.

The report said housing starts plunged by 11.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.078 million in December from the revised November estimate of 1.214 million.

Economists had expected housing starts to dip by 0.5 percent to a rate of 1.250 million from the 1.256 million originally reported for the previous month.

With the much bigger than expected decrease, housing starts plummeted to their lowest annual rate since hitting 1.064 million in September of 2016.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said building permits rose by 0.3 percent to a rate 1.326 million in December from the revised November rate of 1.322 million.

Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, had been expected to tumble by 2.9 percent to a rate of 1.290 million from the 1.328 million originally reported for the previous month.