# Housing starts sink to pandemic levels as builders worry about inflation **Published:** 2026-06-16T18:22:39.000Z **Source:** [Kentucky Lantern](https://kentuckylantern.com/2026/06/16/repub/housing-starts-sink-to-pandemic-levels-as-builders-worry-about-inflation/) **Republished from:** [Kentucky Lantern](https://kentuckylantern.com/2026/06/16/repub/housing-starts-sink-to-pandemic-levels-as-builders-worry-about-inflation/) (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) **Canonical:** https://kentuckylantern.com/2026/06/16/repub/housing-starts-sink-to-pandemic-levels-as-builders-worry-about-inflation/ By Tim Henderson, [Kentucky Lantern](https://kentuckylantern.com) · June 16, 2026 May housing starts fell to the lowest level since the pandemic disrupted construction six years ago, the U.S. Census Bureau [announced](https://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/current/index.html) Tuesday. Builder confidence has [dropped](https://www.indexbox.io/blog/us-homebuilder-confidence-drops-to-35-in-june-below-expectations/) recently because of higher material and financing costs. The change threatens to exacerbate housing shortages and disrupt recent [progress](https://stateline.org/2026/05/14/new-construction-reduces-housing-shortage-in-most-states/) in most states toward building enough new housing for new residents. Starts were down to an annual rate of 1.17 million, the lowest since April 2020, and an 8.5% drop since May 2025. The drop since last year was especially severe in the South, down 15%, and the West, down 11%, but the Northeast saw a 19% increase and the Midwest increased 6%. The annual completion rate was down 14.2% from May 2025 at about 1.3 million units, the lowest since January 2022. New permits were about the same at 1.4 million, with apartment units up and single-family houses down. However, new apartment permits were down 26% in the Midwest, and single-family houses were down 7% in the West. _Stateline reporter Tim Henderson can be reached at_[thenderson@stateline.org](mailto:thenderson@stateline.org). This story was originally produced by [Stateline](https://stateline.org/2026/06/16/housing-starts-sink-to-pandemic-levels-as-builders-worry-about-inflation/), which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Kentucky Lantern, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. ## Sources - [Kentucky Lantern](https://kentuckylantern.com/2026/06/16/repub/housing-starts-sink-to-pandemic-levels-as-builders-worry-about-inflation/)