The U.S. economy is on track to grow 2.6 percent in the first quarter after government data showed a decline in domestic home construction in January, the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow forecast model showed on Wednesday.
That pace is a tad slower than the regional Fed’s prior estimate of 2.7 percent growth on Feb. 12, the Atlanta Fed said on its website.
The model’s forecast on first-quarter U.S. real residential investment growth fell to 13.6 percent from 16.5 percent.
Earlier Wednesday, the Commerce Department said housing starts slowed 3.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.099 million units in January.