US housing starts fall short of expectations at 1.239M as construction pullback deepens

The US housing market just gave back most of June’s gains in a single month. Privately owned housing starts dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.239 million units in July, according to the Census Bureau’s Monthly New Residential Construction report released Monday. That’s a 12.4% decline from June’s revised figure of 1.415 million. To put the retreat in perspective, starts are also down 13.5% compared to July 2025, when the rate stood at 1.432 million. The numbers behind the pullback Single-family housing starts bore a significant share of the pain, falling to 808,000 SAAR in July. That’s a 9.9% drop from June’s revised figure of 897,000. Mortgage rates continue to hover above 6%, a threshold that has proven to be a psychological and financial barrier for many prospective buyers. Affordability constraints have compounded the issue. Permits tell a different story Building permits rose to 1.443 million SAAR in July, a 5.0% increase from the prior month’s revised 1.374 million. Year-over-year, permits climbed 3.1% from 1.400 million in July 2025. Permits are generally considered a forward-looking indicator, since a builder needs approval before breaking ground. The fact t...