Housing starts unexpectedly plunge in October

Construction on new housing unexpectedly plummeted 10.6% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 529,000, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Wednesday, gouging a pothole on the housing sector's road to recovery. It was the lowest housing start level in six months.

A Bloomberg News economists survey had expected housing starts to total a 590,000 annualized rate in October. Housing starts totaled a revised 592,000 annual pace in September, and 587,000 annual pace in August. Housing starts hit a cycle-low 479,000 pace in April.

Further, although housing starts are still up 8% since January, analysts caution that any increases in housing sector activity stem from a very low point with depressed construction levels, following the nation's worst housing recession in more than a generation.