The U.S. Commerce Department released the U.S. housing starts and building permits figures. The U.S. housing starts declined by 6.5% to a seasonally adjusted 1.001 million units in May from 1.071 million in April. Analysts had expected a decline of 3.7% to 1.034 million units.

Many Americans are still struggling to afford new houses due to the high mortgage rates. Single-family houses, the largest part of the housing market, declined 5.9% in May.

Apartments gained 9.4% over the past 12 months. It seems that more Americans prefer to rent a house instead of owning homes.

The number of building permits in the U.S. fell by 6.4% to a seasonally adjusted 991,000 units in May from 1.059 million units in April. Analysts had forecasted building permits to decrease by 0.1% to 1.05 million units.