The Commerce Department reported on Wednesday the housing starts fell by 1.5 percent m-o-m in February to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.599 million, while building permits tumbled by 5.5 percent m-o-m to an annual rate of 1.464 million.

Economists had forecast both housing starts and building permits decreasing to a pace of 1.500 million units each.

Data for January was revised to show homebuilding growing to a pace of 1.624 million units, instead of increasing at a rate of 1.567 million units as previously reported.

According to the report, permits for single-family homes, the largest segment of the market, increased 1.7 percent m-o-m to a rate of 1.004 million units in February, while approvals for the multi-family homes segment slumped 18.3 percent m-o-m to a 460,000 unit-rate.

In the meantime, groundbreaking on single-family homes climbed 6.7 percent m-o-m to a rate of 1.072 million units in February, while housing starts for the multi-family plumped 17 percent m-o-m to a 508,000 -unit pace.