Housing Starts Defy Economist Predictions, Increase By 22.6% in July

The floodgates opened in July for new housing starts, a ravenous return from the previous month’s smaller numbers. According to MarketWatch, home builders began new home starts at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1.496 million last month, a 22.6% increase from June and 23.4% from 2019. Economists did not expect this type of turnaround, MarketWatch says. More new home construction seems to be in the works as well with permit activity happening at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1.495 million, an 18.8% increase from June.

What happened: Increases in both single-family and multifamily starts contributed to the overall increase. Construction on buildings with five or more units increased 56.7% on a monthly basis, while single-family starts rose 8.2%.

Likewise, the increase in building permits occurred across all types of housing: one-unit homes (up 17%), homes with between two and four units (up 12.5%) and buildings with five or more units (up 23.5%).

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