US Housing Starts Fall to 5-Year Low

Housing starts in the United States fell by 4.6% from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.246 million units, the lowest since the Covid pandemic triggered a plunge in starts in the second quarter of 2020. The decline was marked for housing with five or more units (-25.9% to 347,000), offsetting the increase for single-unit houses (5.4% to 874,000). Among different regions, starts fell sharply in the West (-21.9% to 243,000) and slightly in the Northeast (-0.6% to 154,000), offsetting increases in the South (1.2% to 650,000) and the Midwest (0.5% to 199,000).

US housing starts tumbled 8.5% month-over-month in August 2025 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.307 million units, down from a slightly revised 1.429 million in July and well below market forecasts of 1.37 million. That was the fourth-lowest reading since May 2020, underscoring persistent housing market weakness as a glut of unsold new homes and a softening labor market outweighed the relief from easing mortgage rates. By category, single-family starts—the largest segment of homebuilding—dropped 7.0% to 890,000 units, their weakest level since July 2024. Multi-family starts with five or more units plunged 11.0% to 403,000, a three-month low. Regionally, activity fell sharply in the South (-21.0% to 667,000 units) and Midwest (-10.9% to 220,000), while rebounding in the West (+30.4% to 313,000) and Northeast (+9.2% to 107,000).

Housing starts in the United States rose by 5.2% from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.428 million in July of 2025, the most in five months. The rise contrasted with market expectations of a drop to 1.29 million and extended the upwardly revised, 5.9% jump from June. Starts were carried by housing with five or more units for a second month (11.6% to 470 thousand), faster than starts of one unit (2.8% to 939 thousand). Among different regions of the country, starts were sharply higher in the Midwest (33.3% to 252 thousand) and the South (19.2% vs 833 thousand. These were enough to offset contractions in the West (-27.5% to 232,000) and the Northeast (-11.6% to 111 thousand).