Financial News: U.S. Housing Starts Soar In March But Building

U.S. Housing Starts Soar In March But Building Permits Plunge

04/29/2026 - 09:52:00 (RTTNews)

(RTTNews) - A report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed a sharp increase in new residential construction in the U.S. in the month of March but a steep drop in building permits.

The Commerce Department said housing starts soared by 10.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.502 million in March after tumbling by 3.0 percent to a rate of 1.356 million in February. Economists had expected housing starts to come in at an annual rate of 1.400 million.

Single-family housing starts surged by 9.7 percent to an annual rate of 1.032 million, while multi-family starts spiked by 13.3 percent to a rate of 470,000.

"Housing starts were much stronger than expected in March, but based on the data for building permits, the more forward-looking indicator, we don't look for the March pace of starts to repeat in the months immediately ahead," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

She added, "For housing starts to improve on a sustained basis, homebuilders will need to work down their existing inventory of completed homes for sale."

The Commerce Department said building permits plummeted by 10.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.372 million in March after soaring by 11.0 percent to a rate of 1.538 million in February.

Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, were expected to come in at an annual rate of 1.390 million.

The report showed multi-family permits led the way lower, plummeting by 21.6 percent to an annual rate of 477,000, while single-family permits slumped by 3.8 percent to an annual rate of 895,000.

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