United States Housing Starts

Housing starts in the US declined 4.2% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.425 million in October of 2022, after falling by a downwardly revised 1.3% in September, and compared to market forecasts of 1.41 million. Single-family housing starts dropped 6.1% to a rate of 855 thousand while the rate for units in buildings with five units or more decreased 0.5% to 556 thousand. Starts were down in the Northeast (-34.7% to 96 thousand), the Midwest (-11.1% to 185 thousand); and the West (-10.6% to 336 thousand) while starts went up in the South (6.7% to 808 thousand). Compared to October 2021, housing starts fell 8.8%. The US housing market has been hit by soaring prices of materials and rising mortgage rates, which recently reached their highest level since 2001.