June Housing Starts: Permits and Starts Down

• Housing starts increased to 1.43 million (SAAR) in June, down 8% from revised May 2023 figures and down 8.1% from June 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 
• Single family housing starts increased to 0.94 million (SAAR) in June, down 7% from May.
• Housing permits issued in June were down 3.7% from May and down 15.3% from a year ago, to 1.44 million (SAAR). 
• 1.48 million (SAAR) homes were completed in June, down 3.3% from May and up 5.5% year-over-year.

What happened: Housing starts and permits fell back in June, following strong May numbers.

What Zillow Senior Economist Nicole Bachaud thinks: While homebuilders are remaining confident in the market with overall sentiment increasing again in June, the new construction market remains a rocky landscape. Increasing costs and labor shortages are still impacting builders' ability to meet the demand for new housing. While completions are still higher than a year ago, housing permits and starts are dropping back from both this time last year and from last month. This decline may be a response to the slight drop in homebuilder sentiment regarding single-family sales in the next six months with mortgage rates staying elevated, despite headline gains to sentiment. Amid uncertainty, future building activity is pulling back - but is still remaining elevated from pre-pandemic levels. This comes at a time when existing homeowners are unwilling or unable to sell, severely shrinking the available pool of homes, making new home inventory even more important to buyers who are desperate