U.S. housing starts fell 2.6% in August even as single-family construction rebounded sharply, with a pullback in multifamily building more than offsetting the increase in detached-home construction.
Privately owned housing starts ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.275 million units in August, down from a revised 1.309 million in July, according to the Census Bureau and HUD August New Residential Construction report released September 17 at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Starts were also 1.2% below the August 2025 rate of 1.291 million.
The split underneath the headline was unusually wide. Single-family starts increased 7.6% to a 918,000 annual rate from 853,000 in July, while construction of units in buildings with five or more units dropped 22.5% to 344,000 from 444,000, according to Table 3a of the release. That decline in larger multifamily projects was enough to pull overall starts lower despite the single-family gain.
Single-Family Rebounds
The August increase lifted single-family starts 5.2% above their August 2025 pace of 873,000. Multifamily starts moved in the opposite direction: the five-or-more-unit category was 15.5% below its year-earlier level.
The monthly figures, however, come with substantial statistical uncertainty. Census reported a ±12.0% 90% confidence interval around the 2.6% decline in total starts and a ±14.0% interval around the 7.6% increase in single-family starts.
Because both ranges include zero, Census says there is insufficient statistical evidence to conclude that the underlying month-to-month changes were different from zero. The agency also cautions that it can take roughly six months of data to establish an underlying trend in total housing starts.
Over the first eight months of 2026, the not-seasonally-adjusted data provide a broader picture. Total housing starts were 1.0% below the comparable 2025 period, while single-family starts were down 4.7%. Starts in buildings with five or more units were 9.7% higher year to date.
July Was Revised
One of the most consequential details in the new release is the revision to July. Census initially estimated July housing starts at 1.239 million, including 808,000 single-family starts, in its original July New Residential Construction release. Those estimates have now been revised to 1.309 million total starts and 853,000 single-family starts.
That means July total starts were revised upward by 70,000 annualized units, or about 5.6%, while single-family starts were revised upward by 45,000, also about 5.6%, according to Investozora calculations from the two Census releases.
The revision materially changes the month-to-month comparison: August looks weaker against the revised July base than it would have against the initially reported figure.
Census notes that preliminary construction estimates are routinely revised as imputed observations are replaced by subsequently reported data. Its revision methodology and historical analysis explains that process.
Permits Also Fall
Forward-looking permit data were softer in August. Building permits declined 2.7% to a 1.394 million annual rate from 1.433 million in July. Single-family permits decreased 1.8% to 878,000, while permits for buildings with five or more units stood at 467,000.
Housing completions weakened more sharply, dropping 11.9% to 1.128 million, while single-family completions fell 10.4% to 816,000. Unlike the monthly starts estimates, the reported decline in total completions had a confidence interval that did not include zero.
Financing conditions remain another part of the housing backdrop. Investozora recently reported that mortgage rates climbed to 6.95% in September, an important separate measure of borrowing conditions for buyers and builders. That internal housing-market coverage is included in Investozora’s current link inventory.
The next New Residential Construction report, covering September, is scheduled for October 20 at 8:30 a.m. ET. It will show whether August’s single-family rebound persisted and whether the sharp multifamily decline was temporary or part of a broader shift.
