December Housing Starts Hit 5-Month High Amid Multi-Family Jump

12:06 PM EST, 02/18/2026 (MT Newswires) -- US housing starts increased in December to the highest level since July, buoyed by double-digit gains in multi-family units, delayed government data showed Wednesday.

Housing starts rose 6.2% sequentially to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.4 million units in December, according to the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The data came in above the 1.3 million consensus in a Bloomberg survey.

Starts on buildings with at least five units advanced about 10% month on month in December, while the single-family component rose 4.1%. Consolidated housing starts grew in all regions, apart from the South, which saw a 2.8% decline, according to the data.

For November, housing starts rose to 1.32 million units from 1.27 million in October.

December and November data were delayed due to a record 43-day long federal government shutdown late last year.

"Housing starts were well above expectations in December and November, and there were large upward revisions to prior months," Oxford Economics Lead US Economist Nancy Vanden Houten said in remarks emailed to MT Newswires. "Building permits were also stronger than expected, suggesting more momentum heading into 2026."

Building permits, which is a forward-looking indicator of homebuilding, rose 4.3% on a monthly basis to about 1.45 million units in December, ahead of Wall Street's view for 1.4 million. Single-family unit permits decreased 1.7%, while authorizations of units in buildings with five or more units climbed 18%.

"We expect a gradual improvement in housing starts over the course of 2026 but that won't be apparent immediately," according to Vanden Houten. "January starts are likely to be weaker than the December reading due to the severe winter weather that affected much of the country."

On Tuesday, data released by the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo showed that homebuilder confidence in the US unexpectedly dropped in February amid ongoing affordability headwinds.

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