Official figures show that US housing starts plunged 5% in June compared with May, a much bigger fall than expected as the home building industry continues to be affected by a fragile economic recovery.
Construction starts on privately owned homes fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 549,000 in June, the second consecutive month of decline and the slowest rate since October 2009, the Commerce Department said.
That was 5% below the May rate of 578,000, which was also revised sharply lower from an initial estimate of 593,000. The average analyst forecast was for 575,000 housing starts.