US housing starts slump in September, building permits rise

US housing starts fell 8.1% to an annualised rate of 1.43m in September, according to the Census Bureau, down from a revised 1.56m in August and well and truly shy of market consensus estimates for a print of 1.47m.

Single-family housing starts dropped 4.7% to 892,000, the lowest level since May 2020, while the rate for units in buildings with five units or more decreased by 13.1% to 530,000.

The fall comes as the US housing market continues to battle soaring prices of materials and rising mortgage rates, which recently reached their highest level in 20 years.

Building permits, on the other hand, increased 1.4% month-on-month to an annualised clip of 1.56m last month, beating market consensus expectations of 1.53m.

Approvals of units in buildings with five units or more surged 8.2% to 644,000 while single-family authorisations dropped 3.1% to 872,000.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com