U.S. housing starts, permits plumb record lows

New U.S. housing starts and permits dropped to record lows in April, while retail sales fell last week, according to reports on Tuesday that tempered optimism the nation's recession was drawing to a close.

Housing starts fell 12.8 percent to an annual rate of 458,000 units last month, the lowest on records dating to January 1959, the Commerce Department said.

The drop reflected a 46.1 percent plunge in groundbreaking activity for multi-family units and suggested homebuilding remains a drag on the economy. Starts for single-family homes, however, rose 2.8 percent, a second straight gain that showed the worst-hit part of the market was stabilizing.

New building permits, which give a sense of future construction activity, fell 3.3 percent to 494,000 units, the lowest since records started in January 1960. Compared to April last year, building permits plunged 50.2 percent.

Collapsing domestic home prices sparked the global credit crisis and helped throw the U.S. economy into recession in December 2007. Restoring stability to the housing market is a key element to an economic recovery.