Here's What's Odd About Today's Ugly Housing Report

Earlier today we saw housing starts plummet 16% month-over-month to an annualized pace of 880,000. This was far worse than expectations for a 4.9% fall.

But here's the interesting part of the report. Despite the severe winter weather which has been blamed for softer housing data, the Northeast saw housing starts surge 61.9% to an annualized pace of 136,000 units. On the year it was up 56.3%.

This was offset by a 67.7% MoM fall in the Midwest, a 12.5% MoM fall in the South, and a 17.4% MoM fall in the West.