Housing Construction Pulse

U.S. Building Permits

Explore new privately owned residential housing units authorized by state and structure type, based on the Census Building Permits Survey.

Updated from the July 2026 Census release

Latest national pace

Housing construction snapshot

July 2026
Seasonally adjusted annual rate1.43M+5.2% year over year
Actual monthly units authorized128,868DDT sum of four Census categories
Trailing 12 months1,413,649Actual unadjusted units
Single-family share62.6%1-unit structures

State housing construction

Where is new housing being authorized?

Select a state, measure, month, and view. State controls use actual unadjusted units only; SAAR remains a separate national measure below.

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Color uses a sequential scale for volume and 12-month totals, and a diverging scale for year-over-year change.

Housing construction mix

Which structures are being authorized?

The four Census unit-size categories are additive, so this chart uses a stacked view.

Range
View recent national housing authorizations
Recent U.S. housing units authorized by structure type
PeriodTotal1-unit2-unit3-4 unit5+ unit
July 2026128,86880,6113,2881,73343,236
June 2026130,50283,7933,0881,67641,945
May 2026120,49079,2472,9741,33136,938
April 2026129,36184,4583,2261,57740,100
March 2026121,83482,1832,6921,41635,543
February 2026113,66469,8012,57293240,359
January 2026100,24962,0342,4861,22734,502
December 2025117,55463,6392,4281,45350,034
November 202594,05258,4672,6901,21431,681
October 2025124,97076,3603,5261,74243,342
September 2025118,20973,4283,0881,71339,980
August 2025113,89672,4002,8861,54637,064
July 2025121,48878,9643,2341,54537,745
June 2025128,51379,9022,8141,46244,335
May 2025124,90584,0573,1761,67535,997
April 2025129,94288,2773,7301,94335,992
March 2025124,21084,4623,1181,76634,864
February 2025106,39573,8802,7021,30428,509
January 2025111,51773,1152,6881,54534,169
December 2024112,59268,2862,4101,55940,337
November 2024107,27366,6142,4381,45136,770
October 2024125,05784,3633,1641,77935,751
September 2024113,53476,7473,2821,45232,053
August 2024131,85786,0503,3501,91140,546

Housing type divergence

California: single-family vs 5+ unit structures

Compare detached-home and large multifamily authorization trends without treating their different volumes as the same scale.

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Range

State vs. U.S.

California compared with the United States

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Range

Which states authorized the most single-family housing units?

As of July 2026, Texas ranked first, followed by Florida and North Carolina. Figures are actual 1-unit housing authorizations in the selected Census monthly file.

Where are 5+ unit authorizations increasing fastest?

Maine had the largest year-over-year increase in 5+ unit housing authorizations in July 2026 at +705.0%.

State leaders and laggards

States authorizing the most housing units

Ranking
States ranked by 2026-07 total housing units authorized
RankStateLatestYear over yearTrailing 12 months
1Texas18,391-4.5%193,634
2Florida16,024+9.3%157,984
3California8,285+11.0%110,772
4North Carolina7,727+8.0%86,578
5Georgia5,473-1.4%60,146
6New York4,556+57.6%47,895
7South Carolina4,436+17.7%46,376
8Tennessee4,028-2.5%41,652
9Washington3,694+37.9%39,766
10Arizona3,392-25.0%45,514
11Virginia3,228+25.3%35,871
12Ohio3,198+15.2%32,124

National construction pace

Seasonally adjusted annual rate

SAAR annualizes the current monthly pace; it is not the number of housing units authorized during that month and is not available in this snapshot for individual states.

View recent national SAAR values
Recent national seasonally adjusted annual rates
PeriodThousand units, SAAR
July 20261,433
June 20261,374
May 20261,410
April 20261,423
March 20261,363
February 20261,538
January 20261,386
December 20251,455
November 20251,388
October 20251,411
September 20251,415
August 20251,330
July 20251,362
June 20251,393
May 20251,394
April 20251,422
March 20251,481
February 20251,454
January 20251,460
December 20241,480
November 20241,508
October 20241,428
September 20241,434
August 20241,476

Records & outliers

National SAAR historical context

Record high

2,263k in September 2005

Record low

513k in March 2009

Distance from record

-36.7%

What building permits measure

These are authorizations for new privately owned residential housing construction—not business operating permits, completed homes, housing starts, or investment advice. Some authorized projects are delayed, changed, or never built.

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