Housing starts rose 6.2% in December 2025 to 1.404 million units, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. MarketWatch reports economists had expected housing starts to increase 5.1% to 1.31 million.
Applications for building permits, a good indication of future activity, rose 4.3% to 1.448 million units in December 2025.
Single-family housing starts rose 4.1% to a rate of 981,000 units. Multifamily starts climbed 10.1% to a rate of 402,000 units. Building permits for single-family homes fell 1.7% to a rate of 881,000 units, and permits for multifamily homes rose 18.1% to a rate of 515,000 units.
The completions rate for the single-family housing segment fell 0.1% to 1.023 million units in December 2025. The completions rate for multifamily housing rose 7.1% to 483,000 units.
The rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage dropped to 6.09% during the week ending Feb. 12.
