Permits and sentiment point to caution
The data shows that builders kept slowing projects in the fall, shortening build times and cutting costs while they waited for demand to come back. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo confidence index stood at a weak 39, meaning more builders viewed conditions as poor than good, since any reading below 50 signals negative sentiment.
Building permits, a forward-looking gauge, slipped. Privately owned permits ran at a 1.412 million annual pace in October, 0.2% below September and 1.1% under October 2024. Single-family authorizations were 876,000, 0.5% below the revised September figure of 880,000, while permits for buildings with five or more units came in at 481,000.
Completions highlight supply pipeline
Completions stayed comparatively firm, suggesting a still-steady flow of units into the market. Total housing completions were 1.386 million in October, 1.1% above September but 15.3% below a year earlier.
Single-family completions were 1.009 million, which is 6% above the revised September rate of 952,000, with 367,000 units finished in buildings with five or more apartments.
Broader affordability and policy crosswinds
US president Donald Trump recently proposed banning institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes, and asked Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase $200 billion in mortgage bonds to help drive down borrowing rates. These ideas have not been enacted and remained politically contested at the time of the data release, and the size and impact of any such program has yet to be seen.
