Building Permits
Building permits count the authorizations local governments issue before new residential construction can begin, reported as a seasonally adjusted annual rate in thousands. Because a permit precedes the shovel, the series leads housing starts by one to two months and reflects homebuilders' expectations for future demand.
Latest reading
As of June 2026, Building Permits (Building permits (SAAR)) stands at 1.37M — down from 1.41M the prior reading. Above 1,700K SAAR is a construction boom; 1,400K-1,700K is healthy, and below 1,000K signals a housing slowdown. The gap with starts is telling — permits running ahead of starts means builders are planning more than they're executing, often waiting for better conditions. Smooth the monthly noise with the 3-month average, and lean on single-family permits for the owner-occupied market. Series history runs from 1960 to present.
Sources, methodology & freshnessLast updated 2026-07-24 · Open ↓Close ↑
Building permits (SAAR)
- YoY %
- -1.8%
Next release: Aug 18, 2026
Full history
Permits (SAAR)
Year-over-year %
The annual change in permits. Shaded zones split growth (green, above 0%) from decline (red, below 0%) — permits lead starts, so this is an early read on the housing cycle.
Methodology & data
Building Permits is sourced from Census via the Federal Reserve's FRED service (US Census Bureau via FRED (PERMIT), monthly, seasonally adjusted annual rate). We pull the complete history, chart it on a monthly basis, overlay SPY for context, and generate a dated plain-English reading from the latest release — with no smoothing or adjustment beyond what the chart legend states.
Every reading is stamped with its release date, last updated 2026-07-24. Maintained and reviewed by Yuriy Matso; see our methodology for the standards every series on the site is held to.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Building Permits?
Building permits count the authorizations local governments issue before new residential construction can begin, reported as a seasonally adjusted annual rate in thousands. Because a permit precedes the shovel, the series leads housing starts by one to two months and reflects homebuilders' expectations for future demand.
How do you read Building Permits?
Above 1,700K SAAR is a construction boom; 1,400K-1,700K is healthy, and below 1,000K signals a housing slowdown. The gap with starts is telling — permits running ahead of starts means builders are planning more than they're executing, often waiting for better conditions. Smooth the monthly noise with the 3-month average, and lean on single-family permits for the owner-occupied market.
Where does the Building Permits data come from?
US Census Bureau via FRED (PERMIT), monthly, seasonally adjusted annual rate. We chart the full history and publish a dated, plain-English reading with every release; the raw series is downloadable as CSV at /data/indicators/building-permits.csv.
How often is Building Permits updated?
Building Permits is a monthly series from Census, refreshed here as soon as a new release posts to FRED.
thetrading.tools PRO
Talk to this data with your AI
PRO is an MCP server that plugs Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any AI agent straight into everything on this site — the live market scores, ~90 economic indicators with full histories, and every signal study. Ask a market question; your AI answers from our data, dated and sourced.
Cancel anytime