Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
Single-family housing starts decreased in June to the lowest rate since July 2024, due to elevated interest rates, rising inventories and ongoing supply issues in the housing sector, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
While overall housing starts increased 4.6% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.32 million units, single-family starts decreased 4.6% to 883,000, down 10% from June 2024, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau.
“Single-family building conditions continued to weaken in June as housing affordability challenges caused builder traffic to move lower as buyers moved to the sidelines,” says Buddy Hughes, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders and a home builder and developer from Lexington, N.C. “Policymakers need to focus on easing high housing costs by eliminating burdensome regulations, promoting careers in the skilled trades, alleviating permitting roadblocks and overturning inefficient zoning rules.”
On a year-to-date basis, combined single-family and multifamily starts were 28.8% higher in the Northeast, 13.1% higher in the Midwest, 8.1% lower in the south and 0.6% lower in the West.
“Single-family conditions are measurably weakening as resale inventory levels rise, particularly in previously fast-growing areas such as the U.S. south,” says NAHB chief economist Robert Dietz. “Single-family home building in the South is down 12.4% on a year-to-date basis, far outpacing declines in the Northeast and the West. However, single-family home building is up 10% on a year-to-date basis in the Midwest, where housing affordability conditions are generally better than much of the nation.”
