Urethane Blog
Housing Starts
October 19, 2022
US Housing Starts Plunge As Homebuilder Confidence Crashes
by Tyler Durden
Wednesday, Oct 19, 2022 – 08:38 AM
With homebuilder confidence collapsing – especially expectations of future sales – housing starts and permits were expected to slide in September but the results were mixed…
US Housing starts plunged 8.1% MoM in September (worse than the -7.2% expected), but the forward-looking permits unexpectedly rose 1.4% MoM (-0.8% MoM exp) and August was revised to a slightly smaller drop.
![](https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2022-10-19_05-32-47.jpg?itok=1iUe8uuY)
Source: Bloomberg
On a SAAR basis, starts and permits continue their broad trend lower (with a tiny uptick in permits)…
![](https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2022-10-19_05-34-04.jpg?itok=gdtY2Trk)
Source: Bloomberg
The unexpected rise in permits is all due to multi-family units as renter-nation escalates: Single-family permits tumbled 3.1% MoM while multi-family permits soared 8.2% MoM…
![](https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image%20-%202022-10-19T053637.382.png?itok=7OV6ydtz)
On the other side, single family starts plunged 4.7% to 892K SAAR, the lowest since May 2020…
![](https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/image%20-%202022-10-19T053709.582.png?itok=TNhIxW-Q)
So, finally, as we started, what happens next for home starts? If homebuilders are that sanguine about future sales expectations why would they be building any more homes?
![](https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2022-10-19_05-27-36.jpg?itok=YV1vMZ0O)
Source: Bloomberg