US housing starts fall 5.2% in September 2026

US housing starts fell 5.2% to an annual 1,221,000 in September 2026, with apartment starts down 25.9% and completions down 14.0% on the year.

The facts

Housing starts ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,221,000 in September, -5.2% against the revised August figure of 1,288,000 and 7.4% below the 1,319,000 of September 2025.
Apartment building carried the fall: starts in buildings of five units or more came to 349,000, down 25.9% on the year, while single-family starts of 859,000 stood 2.6% above September 2025.
With 1,192,000 completions, September ran 2.2% above August but 14.0% under the 1,386,000 of September 2025.
Building permits totalled 1,400,000, 0.2% below the revised August reading and 3.0% below September 2025; single-family permits of 845,000 fell 4.8% on the year.
The South accounted for 714,000 of the annualised starts, the West 235,000, the Midwest 158,000 and the Northeast 114,000.
Census publishes the monthly starts change with a confidence band of ±11.8%, and that band spans zero.

Apartment starts are 25.9% lower than a year ago, so rental supply tightens from 2027. This autumn's entry price is unaffected.
Round-trip costs decide whether waiting for that squeeze pays: Glopra puts total US transaction costs at 6.9% of the purchase price, so a buyer entering on the 2027 supply story has to hold long enough to earn that 6.9% back.
Owners already letting out US property see the other side: 1,192,000 completions are 14.0% below last September, so fewer finished homes compete for tenants and buyers.

September's 1,221,000 is a preliminary estimate, and this release already carries a revised August figure of 1,288,000; two further revisions follow.
Regional monthly and annual changes sit only in the full data tables, not in the release text, so the September fall cannot be pinned on a single region from this publication.

Sources: US Census Bureau https://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/pdf/newresconst.pdf