Single-family starts decreased 14.1% in July but were up 11.4% from July 2023, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Overall housing starts hit its lowest pace since May 2020, decreasing 6.8% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.24 million units.
“The decline in new home construction mirrors our latest builder surveys, which show that buyers remain concerned about challenging affordability conditions and builders are grappling with elevated rates for builder loans, a shortage of workers and lots, and supply chain concerns for some building materials,” National Association of Home Builders Chairman Carl Harris said in a statement.
On a regional and year-to-date basis, in July combined single-family and multifamily starts were 1.3% lower in the Northeast, 5.1% lower in the Midwest, 5.4% lower in the South and 5.1% lower in the West.
Read the full report here.
