The US housing market is seeing mixed signals, with growth in housing starts but flat permits.

In July, there was a significant decrease of 13% in building permits compared to the same period in 2022. However, there was a notable surge of 6.7% in housing starts compared to the previous month of June.

Highlights

• Housing starts in July rose by 3.9% compared to the previous month of June.
• Building permits in July saw a marginal increase of 0.1%.
• Housing completions in July recorded a significant decline of 11.8%.

The recent report on the U.S. housing market for July revealed some noteworthy trends. The focus of the report was on building permits, housing starts, and housing completions, providing a detailed overview of the current state of the sector.

Building permits showed a mixed picture, with a marginal increase of 0.1% in the number of authorized housing units compared to June, reaching a seasonally adjusted rate of 1,442,000. However, there was a significant drop of 13.0% from the figures of July 2022. Breaking it down further, single-family authorizations increased by 0.6% from June to 930,000, while permits for units in buildings with five or more units were recorded at 464,000.

Housing starts, on the other hand, demonstrated promise with a 3.9% rise in privately-owned housing starts in July compared to June, reaching a rate of 1,452,000. This represents a 5.9% increase from the same period last year. Of these starts, single-family units accounted for 983,000, showing a substantial 6.7% increase from the previous month. Larger buildings, with five or more units, had 460,000 starts in July.

Housing completions, unfortunately, experienced a decline in July. There was an 11.8% drop from June, with the rate standing at 1,321,000. Additionally, this figure is 5.4% lower compared to July 2022. However, there was a slight 1.3% uptick in single-family housing completions from June, totaling 1,018,000. Larger buildings reported a completion rate of 297,000 units.

Looking ahead, while there may be some cause for concern due to the slight increase in building permits and the decline in housing completions, the robust growth in housing starts is a positive sign. It indicates confidence in the market and suggests a potentially bullish trend in the coming months, although caution is still advised.