{"id":428373,"date":"2026-03-12T19:51:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T12:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/2026\/03\/us-housing-starts-for-january-1-487m-versus-1-348m-estimate\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T19:51:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T12:51:39","slug":"us-housing-starts-for-january-1-487m-versus-1-348m-estimate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/2026\/03\/us-housing-starts-for-january-1-487m-versus-1-348m-estimate\/","title":{"rendered":"US housing starts for January 1.487M  versus 1.348M estimate"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Prior month housing starts 1.387M<\/li>\n<li>Housing starts for January 1.487M vs 1.348M last month<\/li>\n<li>Building permits 1.376M vs 1.410M estimate<\/li>\n<li>Prior month 1.455M<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Housing Completions for January:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-section-id=\"28fz6j\" data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"80\">\n<p data-start=\"2\" data-end=\"80\">Housing completions (Jan): 1.527M annual rate, +4.8% vs Dec (1.457M)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"lggpfo\" data-start=\"81\" data-end=\"135\">\n<p data-start=\"83\" data-end=\"135\">YoY comparison: -7.5% vs Jan 2025 (1.651M)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1p5sfgm\" data-start=\"136\" data-end=\"200\">\n<p data-start=\"138\" data-end=\"200\">Single-family completions: 970K, -1.0% vs Dec (980K)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"bi0kqr\" data-start=\"201\" data-end=\"249\">\n<p data-start=\"203\" data-end=\"249\">Multifamily (5+ units): 532K annual rate<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1fi711k\" data-start=\"250\" data-end=\"398\" data-is-last-node=\"\">\n<p data-start=\"252\" data-end=\"398\" data-is-last-node=\"\">Takeaway: Overall completions rose month-to-month, but remain below year-ago levels; weakness mainly in single-family completions.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"586\">Bottom line:<br \/>\nThe January housing data sends a mixed signal for the U.S. housing market. Housing starts rose strongly, driven largely by a surge in multifamily construction, suggesting builders are still pushing projects forward. However, building permits declined both month-over-month and year-over-year, pointing to a more cautious outlook for future construction activity. Meanwhile, housing completions increased from December but remain below year-ago levels, indicating that supply is still working through the pipeline but not accelerating meaningfully.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"588\" data-end=\"1048\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">Market takeaway:<br \/>\nThe report suggests near-term construction activity remains resilient, but forward-looking indicators are softer, particularly in the single-family segment where starts, permits, and completions all declined slightly. For markets, the data implies housing is not collapsing but is also not accelerating, reinforcing the view of a stable but subdued housing sector amid elevated mortgage rates and affordability pressures.<\/p>\n<p>WHAT IT IS<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"435\">Housing starts measure when actual construction begins (foundation work started), while building permits reflect government approvals to build \u2014 making permits a leading indicator and starts a confirmation of activity. The data are released monthly by the U.S. Census Bureau and reported as a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) to smooth seasonal swings and express the pace as an annualized figure.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"437\" data-end=\"877\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">Markets follow the report because housing is a major driver of economic activity. Stronger permits suggest future construction momentum and builder confidence, while solid housing starts indicate real-time economic activity, including jobs and demand for materials. The single-family vs. multifamily breakdown can provide additional insight into affordability trends, financing conditions, and broader economic expectations.<\/p>\n<p>                            This article was written by Greg Michalowski at investinglive.com.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prior month housing starts 1.387M Housing starts for January 1.487M vs 1.348M last month Building permits 1.376M vs 1.410M estimate Prior month 1.455M Housing Completions for January: Housing completions (Jan): 1.527M annual&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-428373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428373\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}