Housing completions plunged 14.6% in February.

The decline was the biggest in almost six years. Analysts blamed the weakness on the new tax law. New homes and apartments were completed at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.67 million units in February, down from 1.96 million units in January, according to a Commerce Department report. It was the first monthly decline since September and the biggest one-month drop since housing completions fell by 15.2% in May, 1981, shortly before the beginning of the 1981-82 recession.