Housing starts continued to fall in August, dropping to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.307 million, down 8.5% compared with July, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Compared with August 2024, housing starts were down 6%. The decrease comes as builders are grappling with economic uncertainty, increased inventory and slowing sales due to lack of affordability.
Starts of detached single-family homes in August were at a rate of 890,000, a decrease of 7.0% compared with July.
Starts of multifamily homes (five units or more per building) were at a rate of 403,000, a decrease of 11% compared with July.
Building permits also slowed. They were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.312 million, down 3.7% compared with July and down 11.1% compared with a year ago.
Permits for single-family homes were at a rate of 856,000, down 2.2% compared with July.
Permits for multifamily dwellings were at a rate of 403,000 in August, down 6.7% compared with the previous month.
Housing completions as of August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.608 million, an increase of 8.4% compared with July but down also 8.4% compared with August 2024.
“Housing affordability is hurting buyer traffic for builders, and as a result builders have slowed single-family home construction,” says Buddy Hughes, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), in a statement. “Nonetheless, our latest survey shows builders reported an increase for future market expectations as mortgage rates have posted a modest decline in recent weeks.”
“Housing starts and building permits slumped in August, with both figures underperforming consensus estimates,” says Odeta Kushi, deputy chief economist for First American, in a statement. “Single-family starts dropped to their lowest level since July 2024, while single-family permits fell to the lowest since
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