by Calculated Risk on 7/17/2020 08:37:00 AM

From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions

Housing Starts:
Privately-owned housing starts in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,186,000. This is 17.3 percent above the revised May estimate of 1,011,000, but is 4.0 percent below the June 2019 rate of 1,235,000. Single-family housing starts in June were at a rate of 831,000; this is 17.2 percent above the revised May figure of 709,000. The June rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 350,000.

Building Permits:
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,241,000. This is 2.1 percent above the revised May rate of 1,216,000, but is 2.5 percent below the June 2019 rate of 1,273,000. Single-family authorizations in June were at a rate of 834,000; this is 11.8 percent above the revised May figure of 746,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 368,000 in June.
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) were up in June compared to May.   Multi-family starts were down 4.1% year-over-year in June.

Single-family starts (blue) increased in June, and were down 3.9% 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 eventual recovery (but still historically low).

Total housing starts in June were at expectations, and starts in May were revised up.

Residential construction is considered an essential business, and held up better than some other sectors of the economy, but was still negatively impacted by COVID-19.

I'll have more later …