I guess as homebuilder confidence goes, so goes housing starts, according to the latest data from the Census Bureau…(Census Bureau)
- M-O-M: Privately‐owned housing starts in July fell 9.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,446,000. Economists had projected a smaller drop of 1.3%.
- Y-O-Y: Housing starts are now down 8.1% when compared to the same time last year.
While housing starts plummeted, building permits fell less than expected and housing completions were actually up for the month…
- BUILDING PERMITS: Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits fell 1.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of
1,674,000. Economists were predicting a bigger drop of 3.0%.
- HOUSING COMPLETIONS: Privately‐owned housing completions increased 1.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,424,000. This is 3.5% higher than at the same time one year ago.
As usual, the South continues to dominate when it comes to construction. Even though housing starts fell 18.7% in the South they still made up 49% of all housing starts across the country. The South also represented 55% of all building permits despite a slight 0.1% drop from June.
- GREAT NEWS: The South made up 51% of housing completions in July.
NOTE: Housing starts have fallen to the lowest level since August 2020 and building permits are now at their lowest level since September 2021.