NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- New home construction fell sharply in May -- the first month after a homebuyer tax credit expired -- from a month earlier, according to a government report released Wednesday.
Housing starts fell 10% from April to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 593,000 last month, the Commerce Department said. Economists were expecting housing starts to fall to only 655,000.
New construction of single-family homes, the key sector of the housing market, plummeted 17.2% over the month to an annual rate of 468,000. The annual rate for new construction of multi-family homes -- buildings with 5 or more units -- was 112,000.
April was the last month in which first-time homebuyers could qualify for a federal tax credit of up to $8,000.