The U.S. Commerce Department released the housing market data on Thursday. Housing starts in the U.S. climbed 2.0% to 926,000 annualized rate in March from a 908,000 pace in February, missing expectations for a rise to 1.040 million.

February's figure was revised up from 897,000 units.

The increase was driven by a gain in starts of single-family homes.

Building permits in the U.S. dropped 5.7% to 1.039 million annualized rate in March from a 1.102 million pace in February. Analysts had expected building permits to fall to 1.080 million units.

Starts of single-family homes jumped 4.4% in February. Building permits for single-family homes rose 2.1%.

Starts of multifamily buildings decreased 2.5% in February. Permits for multi-family housing dropped 15.9%.