Housing Starts Fell in August

Housing remains weak, as new residential construction fell again in August to an annualized rate of 571,000 new units. This is a 5% drop from July’s 601,000 new units (downwardly revised) and a loss of 5.8% from a year ago.

This represents the second month of losses after a gain in June. Starts are 62% below the 50-year average of 1.5 million units.



Declines in multi-family were larger in August and single-family starts declined by 1.4% from the previous month. Completions also fell by 2.7% from the previous month. The one bright spot were permits, which gained 3.2% over the month.

Read the release.