The U.S. Commerce Department released the housing market data on Tuesday. Housing starts in the U.S. dropped 8.8% to 1.089 million annualized rate in March from a 1.194 million pace in February, missing expectations for a decrease to 1.170 million. It was the lowest level since October 2015.

February's figure was revised up from 1.178 million units.

The drop was driven by declines in starts of single-family and multi-family homes.

Housing market benefits from the strengthening of the labour market.

Building permits in the U.S. fell 7.7% to 1.086 million annualized rate in March from a 1.177 million pace in February, missing expectations for a 1,200 million pace. It was the lowest level since March 2015.

Starts of single-family homes slid 9.2% in March. Building permits for single-family homes were down 1.2%.

Starts of multi-family buildings fell 7.9% in March. Permits for multi-family housing slid 18.6%.