Single-family housing starts climbed 7.6% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 918,000 units, 5.2% above August 2025, according to a National Association of Home Builders analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Even with the monthly gain, single-family production remained down 4.7% year-to-date as builders faced rising construction costs, lot and labor shortages and broader economic uncertainty.
Overall housing starts fell 2.6% to a 1.28-million-unit annualized pace, dragged down by a 21.7% drop in multifamily construction to a 357,000-unit rate, 14.6% below a year earlier.
Single-family permits slipped 1.8% to an 878,000-unit annualized rate but were 1.3% ahead of August 2025. The Midwest was the bright spot, with single-family permits up 2.9% year-to-date, while totals in the Northeast, South and West fell.
Single-family homes under construction stood at 589,000 in August, down 3.4% from a year earlier, and completions of single-family homes slid to an 816,000-unit annual rate, down 22.9% year-over-year.
Read the full report here.
