Housing Starts Increased to 1.487 million Annual Rate in January

Note: The Census Bureau is still catching up. They released Start data for January today, but we are still waiting for the February data (not scheduled yet).

From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions

Housing Starts:
Privately-owned housing starts in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,487,000. This is 7.2 percent above the revised December estimate of 1,387,000 and is 9.5 percent above the January 2025 rate of 1,358,000. Single-family housing starts in January were at a rate of 935,000; this is 2.8 percent below the revised December figure of 962,000. The January rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 524,000.

Building Permits:
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,376,000. This is 5.4 percent below the revised December rate of 1,455,000 and is 5.8 percent below the January 2025 rate of 1,460,000. Single-family authorizations in January were at a rate of 873,000; this is 0.9 percent below the revised December figure of 881,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 453,000 in January.
emphasis added

The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts since 2000 (including housing bubble).

Multi-family starts (blue, 2+ units) increased month-over-month in January. Multi-family starts were up 54% year-over-year in January. Single-family starts (red) decreased in January and were down 6.5% year-over-year.

The second graph shows single and multi-family starts since 1968.

Total housing starts in January were above expectations.

The third graph shows the month-to-month comparison for total starts between 2025 (blue) and 2026 (red).

Total starts were up 9.5% in January compared to January 2025 due to the sharp increase in the volatile multi-family starts. It is likely multi-family will decline in the coming months.

Housing Units Under Construction Remains Slightly Elevated

The fourth graph shows housing starts under construction, Seasonally Adjusted (SA).

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