Housing starts dropped 4.6% in October 2025 to 1.246 million units, according to KPMG. Economists had expected housing starts to come in at an annual rate of 1.33 million.
Applications for building permits, a good indication of future activity, fell 0.2% to 1.412 million units in October 2025.
Single-family housing starts rose 5.4% to a rate of 874,000 units. Multifamily starts fell 26% to a rate of 347,000 units. Building permits for single-family homes fell 0.5% to a rate of 876,000 units, and permits for multifamily homes rose 0.4% to a rate of 481,000 units.
The completions rate for the single-family housing segment rose 1.1% to 1.386 million units in October 2025.
The rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage dropped 6.18% during the week ending Jan. 9, which is the lowest reading since September 2024 and one of the lowest since 2022.
