Building Permits Come in Lower Than Expected

New housing data has hit the tape this morning. Housing Starts for March came in -14.7% to 1.3 million seasonally adjusted, annualized units. The previous month’s tally has been downwardly revised to 1.45 million from 1.52 million initially reported. Both single-family and multi-family units were lower than expected: 1.1 million and 299K, respectively.Only the West posted a positive number: +7.1%, compared with the -36% result in the Northeast and -23% in the Midwest. Mortgage rates all around the country — ...