What it measures
Housing starts count new privately owned housing units on which construction began, excluding manufactured (mobile) homes. The figure is a seasonally adjusted annual rate: the number of starts there would be in a year if the month's pace continued.
Who publishes it and when
The Census Bureau publishes New Residential Construction, which includes starts and building permits, around the middle of the following month at 08:30 New York time.
How it is put together
The data comes from the Building Permits Survey and the Survey of Construction. Weather can delay or bring forward building, so single months are noisy and the margin of error is wide.
What traders watch
Traders often prefer building permits, published at the same time, as a guide to future building. Single-family and multi-family starts can move in different directions.
How markets have usually reacted
The release rarely moves currency markets much. It matters more for homebuilder shares and for reading how interest rates are affecting the economy.
Common mistakes
- Reading a weather-driven month as a change in the trend.
- Expecting a large market reaction from a low-impact release.
How a higher or lower figure is usually read
More starts than last month is usually read as supportive for the U.S. dollar; fewer starts as negative. Moves are usually small. Not a signal.
Release history
| Date | Period | Actual | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2026 | 1.22M | 1.29M |
Related news
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- Economic calendar: every release this week in your time zone
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- How to use an economic calendar: what happens around a release, and how to plan for it
Trading involves a high risk of loss. This page is information and education, not advice or a signal to trade. See the Risk Disclaimer.
Official source
This product uses the FRED® API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Calendar data: fred.stlouisfed.org
Published by U.S. Census Bureau: www.census.gov