Privately owned housing starts in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,439,000, which is 8.1% below the revised August estimate of 1,566,000 and 7.7% below the September 2021 rate of 1,559,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Single‐family housing starts last month were at a rate of 892,000, or 4.7% below the revised August figure of 936,000. The September rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 530,000.
“Today’s new housing data matches what we know—in a market where home sales are slowing, we should expect housing starts to slow as well,” says Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda. “Builders are increasingly aware that not every home is selling within a day (or even a month) anymore, and aligning starts to demand makes a lot of sense in today’s uncertain market.”
Housing units authorized by building permits in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,564,000, which is 1.4% above the revised August rate of 1,542,000 but is 3.2% below the September 2021 rate of 1,615,000. Single‐family authorizations last month were at a rate of 872,000, or 3.1% below the revised August figure of 900,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 644,000.
September’s housing completions were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,427,000, which is 6.1% above the revised August estimate of 1,345,000 and is 15.7% above the September 2021 rate of 1,233,000. Single‐family housing completions last month were at a rate of 1,049,000, or 3.2% above the revised August rate of 1,016,000. The September rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 376,000.
“Additionally, this report again suggested that builders are working through their construction backlogs as single-family completions outpaced starts for the third consecutive month, causing the number of single-family homes under construction to decrease to the lowest level since February,” says Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae. “Given how dramatically housing demand has fallen due to the rapid run-up in mortgage rates, we expect builders to begin offering more aggressive incentives to move their now-growing inventory of completed homes for sale.”
