After a large jump in Single-Family starts in August, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) recently reported that the trend continued into September, with the number of starts increasing by an additional 2.7% to an annualized rate of 1.03 million units. Compared to this time last year, single-family starts are up 10.1%.

 
On the other hand, multi-family starts are down 9.4% to an annualized rate of 327,000 units, the lowest it's been since May of this year. This number brings down the overall housing starts for the month of September by 0.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.35 million units.

Carl Harris, the NAHB's Chairman based in Kansas, reflected that the increase in single-family starts follows increase in builder confidence from NAHB's survey released in September. Though higher mortgage rates are likely to result in a decrease in single-family starts in October's data, NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz says that the forecasted gradual decline in mortgage rates in 2025 should lead to corresponding increased starts. The number of multi-family starts might continue to be low, especially as more and more apartments are completed, addressing the need for more housing.

By region, the Northeast showed the only increase in overall housing starts compared to this time last year, coming in at 9.0%. All other regions showed lower numbers, with a 2.0% decrease in the Midwest, 4.6% in the South, and 5.4% in the West. Even so, permits remain high in the Northeast at 0.8% and the Midwest at 2.6% greater than last year. The lowered percentages in the South (2.2%) and the West (5.1%) almost exactly mirror the lowered rate of starts.

Though multi-family numbers are lower, the number of completions in this category has increased by 41% compared to one year ago.

https://www.nahb.org/news-and-economics/press-releases/2024/10/single-family-starts-trend-higher-in-september