Construction of new US homes slowed sharply in April following a March surge, but new building permits rose, amid a bumpy recovery in the housing sector, official data showed Thursday.
Housing starts plummeted 16.5 percent from March to an annual rate of 853,000, but were up 13.1 percent from a year earlier, according to seasonally adjusted Labor Department figures.
It was the first decline in starts in two months and the drop was steeper than the 970,000 rate expected by analysts.
Single-family housing starts, the largest sector of the US market, fell 2.1 percent in April to a rate of 610,000 units.
Still, new building permits, a sign of potential future construction activity, surged. Permits jumped 14.3 percent from March to an annual rate of 1,017,000, and were up 35.8 percent from a year earlier.
US housing starts slow in April
