According to data released earlier today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, housing starts dropped by double digits to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 523,000, 10.6% below the revised March estimate of 585,000. This is 23.9% below April 2010’s numbers. The April 2011’s single-family starts were 5.1% below March at a rate of 394,000. But the real hit to housing starts came from the multi-family component with a 28.3% decrease, showing a rate of 114,000.

Housing permits for April fell 4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 551,000 from March’s rate of 574,000. Worse still, housing permits are 12.8% below the revised April 2010 estimate of 632,000.

Total housing completions in April were 4.1% below March at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 554,000. This is 25.5% below the revised April 2010 rate of 744,000. The single-family sector accounted for the gains with a 14.4% increase above March, at a rate of 420,000. While the multi-family component for April fell a steep 24.8% to a rate of 118,000.

The following is a graph using data from Bloomberg:

(Source: The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development & Bloomberg)