Multifamily starts dropped to an annual rate of 334,000 units in August, down 41% compared with the same month in 2022, according to the Census Bureau, and off 26.3% month-over-month. Single-family starts dropped 4.3% for the month, coming in at an annualized rate of 941,000 units, but edged up by 2.4% compared with a year ago.
Overall, residential starts were at an annualized rate of 1.28 million units in August, down 14.8% for the year, and 11.8% for the month, at their lowest level since the early pandemic in 2020, the bureau reported.
Despite the residential drop, construction spending was up in…