Single-family housing starts posted a modest rebound in August, though they remained lower year to date as home builders continue to confront sluggish buyer demand.

The U.S. Census Bureau released its latest snapshot of new construction activity on Thursday, which included an upward revision to initial estimates for July.

The agency previously reported that single-family starts declined to an annualized rate of 808,000 in July, but has since revised that pace higher to 853,000. That remains the slowest pace of 2026, although not the slowest pace since 2022, as initial estimates had indicated.

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“Building activity in July was more robust than as originally measured,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist at title insurance giant First American Financial Corp., reacting to the latest construction figures in an email to Scotsman Guide.

August subsequently produced a 7.6% boost in single-family starts, raising the seasonally adjusted annual rate to 918,000 from July’s revised level. That landed starts roughly 5% higher than a year ago, though they lag 2025 activity year to date by about 4.7%.

“Single-family construction showed some life in August,” Fleming added, “but builders aren’t stepping on the gas just yet.”

A year of weak demand from homebuyers for newly constructed homes weakened further in August, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported earlier this week. New-home mortgage demand declined for the fifth consecutive month, while slipping below year-ago levels for the second straight month and only the third time since last October.

Home builder outlooks have remained overwhelmingly negative amid the slowdown.

With average 30-year mortgage rates now around 7%, the National Association of Home Builders said Wednesday that its closely watched home builder sentiment index retreated to its lowest level of the year in September. Six-month sales expectations plunged as builders face rising energy costs, workforce disruptions and deteriorating sales conditions.

August’s monthly rebound in single-family starts was led by increased activity in markets across the Midwest and West, where starts rose 23% and almost 30%, respectively, from July. Single-family starts in the Northeast declined 2.1%, while starts fell just under 1% in the South.

Permitting volumes and completions in August, which the Census Bureau also reported on Thursday, continued to trend lower.

While single-family completions were up 17% over the month in the Northeast, they fell by more than 10% across the Midwest, South and West. That pushed the annual pace of completions to its lowest level of the year at 816,000, down 10% from July and 22% from a year ago.

Permits, as a leading indicator of starts and eventually completions, slid about 1.8% from July on a seasonally adjusted basis, but remained 1.3% higher than a year ago. Single-family permits in August were down 2.5% year to date from 2025 levels.

Until new-home sales volumes increase, builders are expected to continue pulling back on construction activity as they simultaneously manage growing inventories of completed units and try to drum up sales with aggressive incentives.

July marked the largest monthly pullback in new-home sales since January, the Census Bureau reported last month, landing 6% lower than a year earlier and pushing year-to-date sales down more than 4%. Government estimates of August new-home sales are scheduled for release next week.

“With plenty of new homes already available relative to the current pace of sales, builders have little reason to push production much higher until that inventory comes down or demand improves,” concluded Fleming.