by Calculated Risk on 8/18/2020 08:37:00 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 1,496,000. This is 22.6 percent above the revised June estimate of 1,220,000 and is 23.4 percent above the July 2019 rate of 1,212,000. Single-family housing starts in July were at a rate of 940,000; this is 8.2 percent above the revised June figure of 869,000. The July rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 547,000.

Building Permits:
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,495,000. This is 18.8 percent above the revised June rate of 1,258,000 and is 9.4 percent (±1.5 percent) above the July 2019 rate of 1,366,000. Single-family authorizations in July were at a rate of 983,000; this is 17.0 percent above the revised June figure of 840,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 467,000 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) were up in July compared to June.   Multi-family starts were up solidly year-over-year in July.

Single-family starts (blue) increased in July, and were up 7.4% 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 July were above expectations, and starts in May and June were revised up.

I'll have more later …