U.S. Housing Starts Pull Back In December

After reporting a substantial increase in new residential construction in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Friday showing a pullback in U.S. housing starts in the month of December.

The report said housing starts fell 9.8 percent to an annual rate of 999,000 in December after jumping 23.1 percent to the revised November estimate of 1.107 million.

Economists had expected housing starts to drop to an annual rate of 985,000 from the 1.091 million originally reported for the previous month.

The Commerce Department also said building permits fell 3.0 percent to an annual rate of 986,000 in December from the revised November rate of 1.017 million.

Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, had been expected to show a more modest decrease to a rate of 1.015 million.

The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com

Read more here: U.S. Housing Starts Pull Back In December