Housing Starts Second-Least Since May 2020
Housing starts fell 5.2% in September to 1.221 million, the lowest since May (which was the lowest since May 2020), below all estimates in a Bloomberg survey (1.305 million median). August’s decline was also revised deeper, to 5.9% from 2.6%.
Single-family starts fell 4.6% to 859,000, the largest drop since April, to the lowest since September 2025. Multifamily fell 7.2% to 349,000.
Building permits though slipped just 0.2% to 1.400 million, better than the 1.3% decline expected, after an upwardly revised 2.1% drop in August, as multifamily rose 5.9% to 503,000, offsetting a 4.0% drop in single-family permits to 845,000, the lowest since March 2023.
Completions rose 2.2% to 1.192 million, but single-family completions were 840,000, the lowest since May 2020.
