The Commerce Department reported on Wednesday the building permits issued for privately owned housing units plunged by 6.1 percent m-o-m in June to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.220 million (the lowest level since May 2017), while housing starts fell by 0.9 percent m-o-m to an annual rate 1.253 million.

Economists had forecast housing starts increasing by 1.9 percent m-o-m last month and building permits edging up 0.1 percent m-o-m.

Data for May was revised slightly down to show homebuilding declining to a pace of 1.265 million units, instead of falling to a rate of 1.269 million units as previously reported.

According to the report, permits for single-family homes, the largest segment of the market, rose 0.4 percent m-o-m at 813,000 in June, while approvals for the multi-family homes segment declined 16.8 percent m-o-m to a 407,000 unit-rate.

In the meantime, groundbreaking on single-family homes rose 3.5 percent m-o-m to a rate of 847,000 units in June, while housing starts for the multi-family tumbled climbed 9.2 percent m-o-m to a 406,000-unit pace.