Housing starts in July: “A housing recession is underway”

Within the 1.45 million starts figure, single-family starts plunged to the lowest reading since June 2020, down 10.1% to a 916,000 annualized rate and down 2.1% on a year-to-date basis. The multifamily sector, which includes apartment buildings and condos, decreased 8.6% to an annualized 530,000 pace.

Jerry Konter, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), noted that the decline in single-family starts was due to the housing slowdown against the backdrop of elevated mortgage rates, supply chain disruptions, and high construction costs.

“A housing recession is underway with builder sentiment falling for eight consecutive months while the pace of single-family home building has declined for the last five months,” said NAHB chief economist Robert Dietz. “However, multifamily construction remains very strong given the solid demand for rental housing. The number of multifamily 5+ units currently under construction is up 24.8% year-over-year.”

Read more: Builder confidence now ‘underwater,’ NAHB says

Multifamily permits rose 2.8% month over month to a seasonally adjusted pace of 746,000, while single-family permits dropped 4.3% to 928,000 in July. Overall, permits were down 1.3% to 1.67