U.S. Housing Starts Unexpectedly Tumble 2.6% In August

(RTTNews) - New residential construction in the U.S. unexpectedly saw further downside in the month of August, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday. The Commerce Department said housing starts tumbled by 2.6 percent to an annual rate of 1.309 million in August after plunging by 9.0 percent to a revised rate of 1.439 million in July. Economists had expected housing starts to spike by 6.1 percent to an annual rate of 1.315 million from the 1.239 million originally reported for the previous month. The extended slump in housing starts came as multi-family starts plummeted by 21.7 percent to an annual rate of 357,000, more than offsetting a 7.6 percent spike in single-family starts to an annual rate of 918,000.