Housing starts drop in Feb., weather likely factor...Groundbreaking tumbled 17 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 897,000 units, the lowest level since January 2014, the Commerce Department said Tuesday....January's starts were revised up to a 1.08 million-unit pace from the previously reported 1.07 million-unit rate.

U.S. housing starts plunged to their lowest level in a year in February as harsh weather kept builders at home, a temporary setback for the housing market recovery.

Groundbreaking tumbled 17 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 897,000 units, the lowest level since January 2014, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

January's starts were revised up to a 1.08 million-unit pace from the previously reported 1.07 million-unit rate.

February's decline pulled starts below the one million-unit threshold for the first time since last August. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast groundbreaking at a 1.05 million-unit pace in February.

Snowy and cold weather conditions gripped much of the country in the second half of February. Harsh weather, which weighed on retail sales in February, is likely to be a drag on first-quarter growth. Housing starts were down 3.3 percent compared to February last year. Groundbreaking fell in all four regions, plunging 56.5 percent in the Northeast to their lowest level since January 2009.

Starts in the Midwest dropped 37 percent to a year low. In the West, groundbreaking activity fell 18.2 percent. Starts in the South, where most of the home building takes place, slipped 2.5 percent. more