Privately owned housing starts ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,275,000 in August, the U.S. Census Bureau said in its September 17 release. That's 2.6% below the revised July estimate of 1,309,000 and 1.2% below August 2025. Single family starts rose 7.6% to 918,000.
Building permits, an early signal of future construction, came in at a 1,394,000 rate. That's 2.7% under July but 3.5% above a year earlier. Single family permits slipped 1.8% to 878,000, and permits for buildings with five units or more reached 467,000.
Completions fell sharply. Builders finished homes at a 1,128,000 rate, 11.9% below July and 27.1% below August 2025. Single family completions dropped 10.4% to 816,000. The Bureau publishes a margin of error with each monthly change, and several of them are wide, so one month rarely tells the whole story.
Source: Monthly New Residential Construction, August 2026, U.S. Census Bureau, release CB26-147, September 17, 2026. This is a short summary written by Brazil Floors. All facts, figures and quotes belong to the original report, so read the full story at the link.
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