by Calculated Risk on 8/16/2017 08:38:00 AM

From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions

Housing Starts:
Privately-owned housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,155,000. This is 4.8 percent below the revised June estimate of 1,213,000 and is 5.6 percent below the July 2016 rate of 1,223,000. Single-family housing starts in July were at a rate of 856,000; this is 0.5 percent below the revised June figure of 860,000. The July rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 287,000.

Building Permits:
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,223,000. This is 4.1 percent below the revised June rate of 1,275,000, but is 4.1 percent above the July 2016 rate of 1,175,000. Single-family authorizations in July were at a rate of 811,000; this is unchanged from the revised June figure of 811,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 377,000 in July.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts for the last several years.

Multi-family starts (red, 2+ units) decreased in July compared to June.  Multi-family starts are down 35% year-over-year.

Multi-family is volatile month-to-month, but has been mostly moving sideways over the last few years.

Single-family starts (blue) increased in July, and are up 10.9% year-over-year.

The second graph shows total and single unit starts since 1968.

 The second graph shows the huge collapse following the housing bubble, and then - after moving sideways for a couple of years - housing is now recovering (but still historically low),

Total housing starts in July were below expectations, however starts for May and June combined were revised up slightly.    I'll have more later ...