# U.S. Housing Starts Fall 5.9% in September as Permits Stay Flat By Enna Lee Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/investing/35938 Published: 2026-10-20T20:17:24.000Z Updated: 2026-10-20T20:17:24.000Z Section: Investing > Building permits changed little from August. The housing figures arrive ahead of the Federal Reserve’s Oct. 27-28 meeting. U.S. housing starts fell 5.9% in September, showing a decline in new construction ahead of the Federal Reserve’s Oct. 27-28 meeting, while building permits were relatively flat from August. Housing starts measure when construction begins on single-family and multifamily homes. The decline in starts contrasted with little movement in permits, another figure in the monthly housing report. An [earlier report on August housing starts]() put the seasonally adjusted annual rate at 1.275 million, down 2.6% from July and 1.2% from August 2025. That was the estimate available before the September release. The Fed is scheduled to meet Oct. 27-28. ## Links in this article - [earlier report on August housing starts](https://www.tokenpost.com/news/investing/35531)