Housing Starts Plunge 14% in December

Housing starts plunged 14% in December to the lowest level in 17 years, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

The decline left the annual rate of housing starts at 1.006 million homes, following a 1.173 million-unit pace in November, Commerce said.

For the year, housing starts dropped 25%, the biggest decline since 1980, to 1.354 million units.

Building permits, an indicator of new construction, fell by the most in 12 years, and the drop for the year was 25%, the most since 1974, Bloomberg reported.

The decrease was led by a 31% slump in the Midwest and a 26% decline in the Northeast, Bloomberg said.