Housing Market 2024: New-Home Construction Drops to COVID-Era Low

US construction of new homes dropped to a four-year low last month as would-be homebuyers remain put off by the market’s high prices and persistently elevated mortgage rates.

According to Commerce Department data, total housing starts fell 6.8% month-to-month in July, slipping to a 1.23 million annualized rate. That marks the lowest level since April 2020, when pandemic factors pushed the rate down to 938,000.