After reporting a sharp increase in new residential construction in the U.S. in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing a notable pullback by housing starts in the month of December. The Commerce Department said housing starts slumped by 4.3% to an annual rate of 1.460 million in December after spiking by 10.8% to a revised rate of 1.525 million in November. …Single-family housing starts led the pullback, tumbling by 8.6% to a rate of 1.027 million in December after soaring by 15.4% to a rate of 1.124 million in November. Meanwhile, multi-family housing starts surged by 8.0% to a rate of 433,000 in December after slipping by 0.3% to a rate of 401,000 in November. …The report also said building permits surged by 1.9% to an annual rate of 1.495 million in December after tumbling by 2.1% to 1.467 million in November. Single-family permits shot up by 1.9% to a rate of 994,000, while multi-family permits jumped by 2.2% to a rate of 501,000.