Washington, D.C.—Strong multifamily construction pushed overall housing starts higher in June, offsetting continued weakness in the single-family market according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
Overall housing starts increased 19% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.43 million units, according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Single-family starts declined 0.2% to an annual rate of 895,000 units. That figure was down 3.2% from June 2025. Multifamily starts, which include apartments and condominiums, increased 76.2% to an annual rate of 532,000 units. That was up 17.2% from a year earlier.
“Single-family housing starts fell in June as elevated mortgage rates and higherconstruction financing costs continued to weaken builder confidence and housing demand,” said Bill Owens, chairman of the NAHB and a home builder and remodeler from Worthington, Ohio. “The newly enacted housing bill includes key provisions to help builders increase supply, including streamlined regulations and incentives for local zoning reforms, but it will take time for these measures to take effect.”
Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington, assistant vice president for forecasting and analysis of NAHB, added, “Builders continue to face a difficult cost environment. Higher long-term Treasury yields have kept mortgage rates elevated, while rising building material prices, transportation costs and insurance expenses are making new construction more expensive. The monthly decline underscores the ongoing challenges facing residential construction despite a persistent shortage of available homes.”
Permits continue to decline
Year to date, combined single-family and multifamily housing starts increased 4.5% in the Northeast, 1.2% in the Midwest and 1.7% in the South. Starts declined 4.4% in the West.
Building permits fell 3% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.37 million units.
Single-family permits declined 2.4% to an annual rate of 871,000 units and were down 0.2% from June 2025. Multifamily permits fell 4.2% to an annual rate of 496,000 units, a 5.7% decline from a year earlier.
On a year-to-date basis, permits increased 15.2% in the Northeast, 1.4% in the Midwest and 0.7% in the West. They declined 6.3% in the South.
There were 582,000 single-family homes under construction at the end of June. The number of apartments under construction totaled 682,000 units.