Construction of new U.S. houses retreated for the second straight month in March after hitting a 33-year high in January, the Commerce Department reported April 18.
Starts fell 7.8% in March to a seasonally adjusted 1.96 million annualized units, the lowest level since March 2005.
The figure was well below the average analyst forecast of an annualized rate of 2.025 units.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2006
