Housing Starts Decreased Sharply to 1.177 million Annual Rate in May
Lowest total starts annual rate since May 2020 (at the start of pandemic).
The Census Bureau is now caught up on housing starts.
From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions
Housing Starts:
Privately-owned housing starts in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,177,000. This is 15.4 percent below the revised April estimate of 1,392,000 and is 8.7 percent below the May 2025 rate of 1,289,000. Single-family housing starts in May were at a rate of 882,000; this is 1.9 percent below the revised April figure of 899,000. The May rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 284,000.
Building Permits:
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,413,000. This is 0.7 percent below the revised April rate of 1,423,000 and is 0.2 percent below the May 2025 rate of 1,416,000. Single-family authorizations in May were at a rate of 886,000; this is 0.6 percent above the revised April figure of 881,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 474,000 in May.
emphasis added
The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts since 2000 (including housing bubble).
Multi-family starts (blue, 2+ units) decreased sharply month-over-month in May. Multi-family starts were down 14% year-over-year. Single-family starts (red) decreased in May and were down 6.7% year-over-year.
The second graph shows single and multi-family starts since 1968.
Total housing starts in May were well below expectations - especially multi-family -and starts for the previous two months were revised down, combined.
The third graph shows the month-to-month comparison for total starts between 2025 (blue) and 2026 (red).
Total starts were down 8.7% in May compared to May 2025. This is the lowest total starts annual rate since May 2020 (at the start of pandemic).
Year-to-date, total starts are down 0.9% NSA compared to same period in 2025.
Housing Units Under Construction Remains Slightly Elevated
The fourth graph shows housing starts under construction, Seasonally Adjusted (SA).
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