The Commerce Department reported on Thursday the housing starts plunged by 22.3 percent m-o-m (the most since March 1984) in March to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.216 million, while building permits fell by 6.8 percent m-o-m (the most since July 2015) to an annual rate of 1.353 million.

Economists had forecast both housing starts and building permits decreasing to a pace of 1.300 million units each.

Data for February was revised to show homebuilding growing to a pace of 1.564 million units, instead of increasing at a rate of 1.599 million units as previously reported.

Groundbreaking on single-family homes fell 17.5 percent m-o-m to a rate of 856,000 units in March, while housing starts for the multi-family plumped 32.1 percent m-o-m to a 347,000 -unit pace.