Single-Family Starts Rebound but Market Challenges Persist

Single-family housing starts rebounded in August, but production remains down 4.7% year-to-date as builders contend with rising construction costs, lot and labor shortages, and economic uncertainty.

Overall housing starts decreased 2.6% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.28 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau.

The August reading of 1.28 million starts is the number of housing units builders would begin if development kept this pace for the next 12 months. Within this overall number, single-family starts increased 7.6% to a 918,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate and are up 5.2% compared to August 2025. The multifamily sector, which includes apartment buildings and condos, decreased 21.7% to an annualized 357,000 pace and are down 14.6% compared to August 2025.

“Single-family starts unexpectedly increased in August, but higher mortgage rates, rising construction financing costs and affordability challenges continue to weigh on the market and limit momentum for new-home construction,” said Bill Owens, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder and remodeler from Worthington, Ohio.

“Year-to-date declines in single-family permits show builders remain cautious about future construction, a trend reflected in our recent builder surveys,” said Jing Fu, NAHB’s senior director of forecasting and analysis. “Ongoing economic uncertainty and affordability challenges will continue to slow single-family construction in the months ahead. However, the Midwest remains a relative bright spot, with single-family permits up 2.9% year-to-date through August.”

On a regional and year-to-date basis, combined single-family and multifamily starts were 10% higher in the Northeast, 0.4% higher in the Midwest, 2.4% lower in the South and 3% lower in the West.

Overall permits decreased 2.7% to a 1.39-million-unit annualized rate in August. Single-family permits decreased 1.8% to an 878,000-unit rate and but are up 1.3% compared to August 2025. Multifamily permits decreased 4.3% to an annualized 516,000 pace but are up 7.5% compared to August 2025.

Looking at regional permit data on a year-to-date basis, permits were 12.5% higher in the Northeast, 2.7% higher in the Midwest, 3.5% lower in the South and 1.7% higher in the West.