US Housing Starts Slump in August and US Building Permits Lowest since May 2020
US housing starts tumbled 8.5% month-over-month in August 2025 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.307 million units, down from a slightly revised 1.429 million in July and well below market forecasts of 1.37 million.
That was the fourth-lowest reading since May 2020, underscoring persistent housing market weakness as a glut of unsold new homes and a softening labor market outweighed the relief from easing mortgage rates. By category, single-family starts the largest segment of homebuilding dropped 7.0% to 890,000 units, their weakest level since July 2024.
Multi-family starts with five or more units plunged 11.0% to 403,000, a three-month low. Regionally, activity fell sharply in the South (-21.0% to 667,000 units) and Midwest (-10.9% to 220,000), while rebounding in the West (+30.4% to 313,000) and Northeast (+9.2% to 107,000).
Building permits in the United States fell by 3.7% to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.312 million in August 2025, the lowest since May 2020 and below market expectations of 1.37 million.
Single-family permits decreased by 2.2% to an annualized rate of 856 thousand, while permits for buildings with five or more units dropped by 6.7% to 403 thousand.
Regionally, permits declined in the Northeast (-3.2% to 121 thousand), the Midwest (-9.5% to 200 thousand), and in the South (-6.9% to 691 thousand), but increased in the West (9.5% to 300 thousand).
Source: Trading.Economi
