Housing starts disappointed in January

The pace of housing starts and building permits declined in January, according to the latest data from the Census Bureau.

Housing starts fell 3.8% to an annualized pace of 1.099 million homes.

This was a big miss as economists were expecting them to rise by 2.0% to an annualized pace of 1.173 million homes.

Meanwhile, building permits fell 0.2% to an annualized pace of 1.202 million.

They were expected to fall by 0.3% to an annualized pace of 1.2 million.

Ahead of the report, Barclays' Henry Skeoch wrote: "Starts were sluggish in Q4, at an average pace of 1.133mn units (Q3: 1.158mn). At the same time, however, construction payrolls have been rising steadily and suggest that the housing market continues to improve. We expect starts to rise through Q1 of this year and the housing market to continue its gradual recovery."

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