by Housing completions saw the largest drop, followed by housing starts and building permits
WASHINGTON — September housing starts, building permits and housing completions were all below last year’s levels, signaling an ongoing slowdown in the market for new homes, according to recently released numbers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The steepest decline was in housing completions, which totaled 1,192,000, down 14% from 1,386,000 in September 2025. Of these, 70.5%, or 840,000, were single-family homes, down 2.4% from 861,000 in August 2025.
Housing starts totaled 1,221,000, 7.4% below 1,319,000 in September 2025. Of these, 70.4% or 859,000 were single-family homes, 70.4% below the revised August 2025 rate of 900,000.
Building permits totaled 1,400,000, 3% below 1,444,000 in September 2025. Of these, 60.4%, or 845,000 were for single-family homes, down 4% from a revised August rate of 88,000.
Housing completions were 2% above a revised August estimate of 1,166,000, while housing starts were 5.2% below a revised August estimate of 1,288,000. Building permits were .2% below the revised rate of 1,403,000 in August.
The drop in housing completions suggest that fewer people moved into homes during the month of September compared to last year and thus purchased less furniture. The 2% increase from August could have slightly softened that impact.
By region, the activity was as follows:
In the Northeast, residential building permits were 2% below September 2025 and 13.3% above August, while housing starts were down 30.9% from September 2025 and level with August. Housing completions in the region were down 43% from September 2025 and down 1.1% from August.
In the Midwest, building permits were 4.4% above September 2025 and .5% above August, while housing starts were 19.4% below September 2025 and 19% below August. Housing completions were 14.9% above September 2025 and 15.6% above August.
In the South, building permits were 1.8% below September 2025 and 1.1% above August, while housing starts were 11% above September 2025 and 6.1% above August. Housing completions were 21.3% below September 2025 and 6.1% below August.
In the West, building permits were 11.3% below September 2025 and 10.2% below August, while housing starts were 25.4% below September 2025 and 23.2% below August. Housing completions were 3.3% above September 2025 and 14.9% above August.
