Single-family housing production held steady in September as strong demand helped to offset ongoing building material supply chain disruptions. Meanwhile, declines in multifamily production helped to push overall housing starts in September down 1.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.56 million, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau.
The September reading of 1.56 million starts is the number of housing units builders would begin if development kept this pace for the next 12 months. Within this overall number, single-family starts were essentially unchanged from the previous month at a 1.08 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, and are up 20.5% year-to-date. The multifamily sector, which includes apartment buildings and condos, decreased 5.0% to a 475,000 pace.