June 2024

Privately-Owned Housing Starts In The United States

June 2024

Privately-owned housing starts in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,353,000.

New house starts in the first half of 2024 were 0.63% higher than their previous 120-month average.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau jointly announced the new data on June 16, 2024.

• Housing starts in the U.S. rose by 3% from the previous month to an annualized rate of 1,314,000 in May of 2024.
• In May, groundbreaking on U.S. single-family homebuilding projects surged by the most in more than a year.
• U.S. home building surged in May, climbing 21.7% from April as low inventory in the existing home market drives demand for new homes.

Despite the recent increase in housing starts, the overall housing market remains constrained by high prices and rising interest rates. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that the median sales price of existing homes in May 2024 was $375,300, up 14.8% from a year earlier.

Rising interest rates are also making it more expensive for buyers to finance a mortgage. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 5.78% in June 2024, up from 3.11% a year earlier, according to Freddie Mac.

Despite these challenges, the long-term outlook for the housing market remains positive. The U.S. population is growing, and there is a strong demand for housing from millennials and other first-time buyers.