India, April 17 -- A report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed new residential construction in the U.S. pulled back by much more than expected in the month of March.
The Commerce Department said housing starts plunged by 11.4 percent to an annual rate of 1.324 million in March after surging by 9.8 percent to a revised rate of 1.494 million in February.
Economists had expected housing starts to tumble by 5.4 percent to an annual rate of 1.420 million from the 1.501 million originally reported for the previous month.
With the much sharper than expected pullback, housing starts slumped to their lowest since hitting an annual rate of 1.305 million last November.
"Home construction was slightly slower than expected in Mar...