“The latest starts numbers reflect declining builder sentiment as they continue to grapple with high building material prices, production bottlenecks and labor shortages,” said Chuck Fowke, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a custom home builder from Tampa, Fla.  “Policymakers need to prioritize the U.S. supply chain for items like building materials to ensure builders can add additional inventory the housing market desperately needs.”

“The decline in single-family permits indicates that builders are slowing construction activity as costs rise,” said Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington, NAHB assistant vice president of Forecasting & Analysis. “Starts began the year on a strong footing but in recent months some projects have been forced to pause due to both the availability and costs of materials.”

On a regional and year-to-date basis (January through July 2021 compared to that same timeframe a year ago), combined single-family and multifamily starts are 27.7% higher in the Northeast, 20.8% higher in the Midwest, 18.5% higher in the South, and 27.7% higher in the West.

Overall permits increased 2.6% to a 1.64 million unit annualized rate in July. Single-family permits decreased 1.7% to a 1.05 million unit rate, while multi-family permits increased 11.2% to a 587,000 pace. Looking at regional permit data on a year-to-date basis, permits are 24.9% higher in the Northeast, 23% higher in the Midwest, 25.9% higher in the South, and 28.2% higher in the West.

Additional details are available at www.nahb.org.