Housing starts decreased 9.6% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.446 million units, according to reuters.com. Economists expected starts to come in at a rate of 1.54 million units.
Applications for building permits, a good indication of future activity, fell 1.3% to 1.674 million units in July.
Single-family housing starts fell 10.1% to a rate of 916,000 units—the lowest level since June 2020—and the rate for multifamily starts fell 10% to 514,000 units. Building permits for single-family homes declined 4.3% to a rate of 928,000 units.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is at an average of 5.22%, which is up from 3.22% at the beginning of 2022.
The number of houses authorized for construction but not yet started rose 5%, and the single-family housing backlog increased 2.1% in July.
