Housing Starts & Building Permits Plunged To COVID Lows In July

After an unexpected jump in June, housing starts and building permits were expected to decline MoM in July (as homebuilder sentiment slipped the lows of the year)… and down they dropped – bigly. Starts tumbled 6.8% MoM (-1.5% exp) and Permits plunged 4.0% MoM (-2.0% exp). June’s starts print was revised lower while permits June print was revised higher…

Source: Bloomberg

This decline dragged both Starts and Permits to their lowest since the COVID lockdowns…

Source: Bloomberg

Single-family Starts plunged (but multi-family home starts rose)…

Source: Bloomberg

But, Single-family Permits fell for the sixth straight month

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, as we mocked yesterday, NAH homebuilder sentiment slumped (but future expected sales jumped). Now we get to see the difference between talk (sentiment surveys) and walk (actual construction)…

So, do you think the US housing market is on a solid footing? And will rate-cuts (or socialism) solve all the problems?