Housing starts fell 7% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.534 million units, according to reuters.com. The rate was lower than economists’ expectations of 1.6 million units.
Additionally, housing starts were up 2.5% compared with July 2020. Applications for building permits, a good indication of future activity, rose 2.6% to 1.635 million units in July.
Single-family housing starts fell 4.5% to 1.111 million units, and multifamily starts fell 13.1% to 423,000 units.
The report from the Commerce Department showed a rebound in building permits after three straight monthly declines, but the gain was in the volatile multifamily home segment, which jumped 11.2%. The number of houses authorized for construction but not yet started was the third highest on record in July, signaling builders still are hesitant to take on new projects.