United States Housing Starts

Housing starts in the US unexpectedly fell by 1.6% mom to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.555 million in September of 2021, compared to market forecasts of 1.62 million. It is the lowest reading in 5 months, as high costs for building materials, supply constraints and labor shortages weighed on the housing market. Single-family housing starts were at a rate of 1.080 million, virtually unchanged from August while the multi-family segment dropped 5.1% to 467,000. Sales declined in the Northeast (-27.3% to 120,000) and the South (-6.3% to 835,000) but rose in the Midwest (6.9% to 217,000) and the West (19.3% to 383,000).