US housing starts and building permits beat expectations in March

US housing starts unexpectedly edged 0.3% higher to a seasonally adjusted annualised rate of 1.793m in March - the highest since June 2006.

March's print, which beat market forecasts of 1.745m, came alongside an upwardly revised figure for February, which was raised to 1.788m from an initial of 1.769m.

Starts of houses with five units or more jumped 7.5% to 574,000, while single-family starts dropped 1.7% to 1.2m, according to the Census Bureau.

Elsewhere, building permits increased 0.4% month-on-month to 1.873m, also above market expectations for a reading of 1.825m. Authorisations for buildings with five units or more surged 10.9% to 672,000, while those for single-family declined 4.8% to a rate of 1.14m.

Permits climbed in the Northeast and the Midwest but fell in the South and the West.