This summer saw a dip in housing starts. A decrease in building permits could signal even fewer starts in the coming months
Aug. 16, 2024
2 min read
Image: volgariver / stock.adobe.com
Following a broader slowdown in the market, housing starts were down in July.
Housing starts continued to decline in July in both the single-family and multifamily sectors. According to the Calculated Risk blog, privately owned housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.24 million as of July, down 6.8% from June and down by 16% from the year prior. Single-family housing starts decreased to a rate of 851,000 in July, compared with 991,000 the month prior. Multifamily housing starts jumped slightly month-over-month to a rate of 363,000 starts in July, but overall saw a more than 18% decline in starts when looking at the data on a year-over-year basis. A slowdown in housing starts is expected to continue over the next several months as building permits were also down in July.
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,396,000. This is 4.0 percent below the revised June rate of 1,454,000 and is 7.0 percent below the July 2023 rate of 1,501,000. Single-family authorizations in July were at a rate of 938,000; this is 0.1 percent below the revised June figure of 939,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 408,000 in July.
