Housing Starts and Permits Lower In September

The U.S. Census Bureau has reported that privately-owned housing starts in September were at a SAAR of 1,256,000. This is 9.4% below the revised August 2019 estimate, but 1.6% above September 2018. Privately-owned single-family housing starts in September were a a SAAR of 918,000, which is 0.3% above August 2019 levels.  Privately-owned housing units by building permits in September were at a SAAR of 1,387,000. This is 2.7% below revised August 2019 levels, but 7.7% above September 2018 level.