Housing starts dropped 8% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.434 million units, according to Reuters. Economists expected starts to fall to 1.48 million units; the May rate was revised from 1.631 million units to 1.559 million units.
Applications for building permits, a good indication of future activity, fell 3.7% to 1.44 million units in June.
Single-family housing starts fell 7% to a rate of 935,000 units, and multifamily starts fell 11.6% to a rate of 482,000 units—the lowest since December 2022. Building permits for single-family homes climbed 2.2% to a rate of 922,000 units, and permits for multifamily homes fell 13.5% to a rate of 467,000 units—the lowest since October 2020.
Builders’ efforts to boost construction continue to be affected by material shortages and higher borrowing costs.
