WASHINGTON (AFP) - US housing starts and construction permits fell to 16-year lows in March, the government said Wednesday, in a fresh sign of contraction in the troubled real estate market.
The Commerce Department said US March housing starts fell 11.9 percent to a 947,000 unit annual rate, down from an upwardly revised 1.075 million units in February. That pace was the lowest level since March 1991.
Economists’ consensus forecast was…
