US Housing Starts Fall 5.2% to Four-Month Low

US housing starts fell 5.2% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.221 million, the lowest since May, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau reported on October 20, 2026. Starts declined for a third consecutive month and were 7.4% below September 2025. Building permits edged down 0.2% to 1.4 million. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast starts at 1.305 million and permits at 1.395 million. Single-family starts dropped 4.6% to 859,000, the lowest since September 2025. Multifamily starts fell 7.2% to 349,000. Single-family permits decreased 4.0% to 845,000, lowest since March 2023; multifamily permits rose 5.9% to 503,000. A National Association of Home Builders survey on October 19 showed builder sentiment plunging. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 7.40% last week, highest in nearly three years, Freddie Mac data showed. "The weakness in housing starts is not surprising. Even if homebuilders were putting up new houses, who could afford to buy them?" said Christopher Rupkey of FWDBONDS. Carl Weinberg of High Frequency Economics said starts will falter until the energy shock is better understood. Stephen Stanley of Santander US Capital Markets said that without an adjustment, inventories would quickly back up. President Trump earlier declined to sign a bipartisan housing affordability bill, calling it "a big yawn"; it became law without his signature.