Factory demand

Housing starts

Name: Housing starts — U.S. manufacturing data
Creator: MFG Calcs
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

As of May 2026, housing starts stands at 1,177 thousands (SAAR) (Federal Reserve, Census, BLS, and ATA via FRED), falling over the recent window.

What this measures and why it matters

Housing starts is a demand-side signal for U.S. manufacturing: it says how much work is flowing through the sector. Reading it before committing to capacity, staffing, or inventory keeps those decisions aligned with where real order volume is heading.
The figure comes from Federal Reserve, Census, BLS, and ATA via FRED and is reported in thousands (SAAR). MFG Calcs archives every published value, so the chart and table below show the full recorded history rather than a single snapshot, and they extend automatically as new data lands.

Latest reading: 1,177 thousands (SAAR) for May 2026.
Prior period: 1,392 (Apr 2026), a decline of 215.00.
Compared with a year earlier, housing starts is down 8.7%.
Across the archived window the high was 1,522 in Mar 2026 and the low was 1,177 in May 2026.
The series has moved down for 2 consecutive periods.
13 observations have been archived so far, and this page deepens automatically each time Federal Reserve, Census, BLS, and ATA via FRED publishes a new figure.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.