Housing Starts Fall to 17-Year Low

Housing starts plunged 11.9% in March to the lowest level in 17 years, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

The decline brought the annual rate of housing starts to 947,000 homes, the fewest since March 1991, Commerce said.

Building permits, an indicator of new construction, fell to a 927,000 rate, from 984,000 the previous month.
 
Economists had forecast that housing starts would fall by 5.2% to 1.01 million units, and that permits would decline to a 970,000 rate, Bloomberg reported.