Residential construction starts in January fell sharply from last year’s soaring year-end activity, the government said Wednesday.
Housing starts last month came in at an annual pace of 890,000 units — an 8.5 percent decline from an upwardly revised December figure of 973,000.
Yet Wednesday’s data showed that the number of permits issued and homes completed nationwide in January continued to rise. And those figures, as well as housing starts, remain significantly higher than year-ago levels.
