The Commerce Department said housing starts fell 12.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 458,000 units, the lowest on records dating back to January 1959, from March’s upwardly revised 525,000 units.
“It obviously calls into question the notion that the housing market is stabilising,” said Brian Dolan, chief currency strategist at Forex.com in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Compared to the same period last year, housing starts tumbled 54.2%. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected an annual rate of 520,000 units for April.
US stock index futures pared gains after the data. Government bond prices extended losses despite the weak report.
New building permits, which give a sense of future home construction, dropped 3.3% to 494,000 units, the lowest since records started in January 1960, from 511,000 units in March. — Reuters
That was well below analysts’ forecasts of 530,000 units. Compared to the same period a year-ago, building permits plunged 50.2%.
Meanwhile, aggressive cost-cutting helped Home Depot Inc, the word’s largest home improvement chain, to report yesterday a bigger-than-expected profit in the latest quarter despite the deep US housing slump.
By Reuters
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