With new construction of multi-family homes pulling back rather sharply, the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing that U.S. housing starts came in below economist estimates in the month of October. The report said housing starts fell 2.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.009 million in October from the revised September estimate of 1.038 million. Economist had expected housing starts to climb to an annual rate of 1.025 million from the 1.017 million originally reported for the previous month. On the other hand, the report said building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, jumped 4.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.080 million in October from the revised September rate of 1.031 million