September 2021 New Residential Construction – US Census Bureau

Permits issued for construction in September decreased by -7.7% from August with no change from September of 2020. Single family homes are down -0.9% from September while multi-family developments are down -21%. Single family homes show no change from this time last year while multi family developments are up 18%. Units authorized by not starting remains stagnant with a 0.4% increase from last month but a large increase of 40.4% from this time last year. Multi family developments are edging out single family homes 43.1% vs 38.5% year over year.

Units started have decreased by -1.6% from last month but have increased 7.4% from last year. Single family starts have actually decreased by -2.3% from last year but multi family developments have increased 38.2% despite decreasing -5.1% from last month. Units under construction have grown 17.1% from last year, with single family homes under construction increasing by 30.6% from last year. Multi-family developments under construction have only increased by 5.9% potentially indicating that single family builders are in tight supply.

Looking at completions we see decreases both from last month and last year. Down -4.6% in the month and -13% in the yearly . Single family homes for the most part have seen little change both month to month and year to year, with only a 2.1% increase from September 2020. Multi-family developments on the other hand have seen large decreases in both the month to month, -18.1% and the year to year, -41.8% respectively.