U.S. single-family housing starts fell 9.9% in July to an annualized rate of 808,000 units, the weakest pace in nearly four years and 15.7% below the level recorded a year earlier.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Construction of new single-family homes fell sharply in July, dropping to its slowest pace since 2022 as residential building activity weakened across the United States, according to Census Bureau data released Tuesday.
Single-family housing starts declined 9.9% from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 808,000 units.
The July pace was also 15.7% lower than during the same month a year earlier, marking a significant year-over-year decline in new construction of detached homes.
The weakness extended beyond the single-family market.
Total housing starts, which include apartment buildings, condominiums and single-family homes, fell 12.4% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.239 million units.
That was 13.5% below the year-earlier pace.
July’s overall housing-start rate was the second-lowest recorded since June 2020. The only weaker month during that period was May, when construction proceeded at an annualized rate of 1.182 million units.
The latest figures point to a broad slowdown in new residential construction, with the particularly steep decline in single-family starts bringing activity to a level not seen in nearly four years.
Despite the recent contraction, the current pace of residential construction remains comparatively elevated when measured against much of the decade preceding the pandemic.
The longer-term history of the housing market also illustrates how dramatically construction levels have changed over the past two decades.
U.S. housing construction reached its pre-financial-crisis peak in early 2006. In January of that year, housing starts rose to an annualized pace of 2.273 million units as the housing boom approached its peak.
Construction subsequently collapsed after the housing bubble burst.
By April 2009, during the aftermath of the housing and financial crisis, starts had fallen to an annualized rate of just 478,000 units.
The July 2026 rate of 1.239 million total starts remains substantially above that historic low, but the latest monthly decline represents another pullback from the stronger construction levels seen during more recent years.
Single-family construction showed the greatest weakness in July, with the 808,000-unit annualized pace leaving builders starting considerably fewer homes than both one month and one year earlier.
The figures also continue a recent period of softer overall homebuilding activity. May’s annualized rate of 1.182 million total starts remains the lowest since June 2020, while July now ranks as the second-lowest level over that span.
With single-family starts down nearly 10% in a single month and almost 16% from July 2025, the latest Census Bureau figures show that new-home construction entered the second half of 2026 at its weakest single-family pace since 2022.
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