In January, new residential construction in the United States showed a considerable decrease, according to data of the U.S. Commerce Department.
Housing starts dropped 3.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.099 million in January from the revised December estimate of 1.143 million.
The unexpected drop was partly due to a notable decline in single-family housing starts, which slumped 3.9 percent to a rate of 731,000. Multi-family starts also slid 3.7 percent to a rate of 368,000.
Rob Carnell, Chief International Economist at ING Commercial Banking, said, "U.S. housing starts were soft in January - though this is a month of very low housing construction activity typically, and the seasonals can distort very small underlying changes."
"Bad snowfalls in January may account for much of the decline, and we wouldn't get too carried away with what appears to be a slight softening in the trend for this sector until we get another month's data," he added. "Still, it is another warning light for U.S. activity, so not to be ignored."
The Commerce Department also said building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, edged down 0.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.202 million in January from 1.204 million in December.
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