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Housing Starts

New homes builders broke ground on, at an annual rate.

1.47M
Thousands of units (SAAR) · latest, Apr 2026
1960-61 Recession1969-70 Recession1973-75 Recession1980 Recession1981-82 Recession1990-91 Recession2001 RecessionGlobal Financial CrisisCOVID-19 Recession0.5M1.0M1.5M2.0M1960197019801990200020102020

Source: FRED · HOUST · series · Jan 1959 to Apr 2026 · latest-revised

Reading it. Annual-rate units. A leading indicator, and volatile month to month.

About the bands. Shaded spans are NBER-dated US recessions, drawn as factual overlays. They mark when the economy contracted, not why. Lining an event or policy up with a move on this chart is not evidence that it caused the move.