Mumbai, Sept. 18 -- After reporting significant increases in new residential construction in the U.S. over the two previous months, the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing housing starts pulled back by much more than expected in the month of August.
The Commerce Department said housing starts plummeted by 8.5 percent to an annual rate of 1.307 million in August after surging by 3.4 percent to a revised rate of 1.429 million in July.
The much bigger than expected pullback by housing starts reflected steep drops by both single-family and multi-family housing starts.
The report said plunged by 7.0 percent to an annual rate of 890,000, while multi-family starts saw an 11.7 nosedive to an annual rate of 417,000.
The Co...