Briefing.com: Housing Starts

Updated: 18-Aug-26 09:17 ET

July Housing Starts

Updated: 18-Aug-26 09:17 ET

Highlights

Housing starts declined 12.4% month-over-month in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.239 million (Briefing.com consensus: 1.360 million). Single-unit starts were down in every region of the country.
Building permits increased 5.0% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.443 million (Briefing.com consensus: 1.390 million). The good news there is that permits for single units-a leading indicator-were up 2.5% month-over-month.

Key Factors

The change in single-unit starts by region: Northeast (-27.1%); Midwest (-5.0%); South (-4.9%); and West (-21.6%).
The change in single-unit permits by region: Northeast (+7.7%); Midwest (+4.8%); South (+2.7%); and West (-1.1%).
Multi-unit starts declined 16.8% month-over-month, while multi-unit permits increased 9.4%.
The number of units under construction at the end of the period decreased 0.2% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.262 million, with single-unit dwellings down 1.2% to 579,000.

Big Picture

The key takeaway from the report, though, is the broad-based weakness in single-unit starts seen in July, which is a month that featured rising interest rates that increased the cost of financing.