Housing Units Under Construction
The total number of privately owned housing units (single-family plus multifamily) under construction at month-end, from the Census Bureau's New Residential Construction survey, monthly since 1970. It is the housing pipeline: starts flow in, completions flow out.
Units under construction
- YoY %
- -6.0%
Next release: Sep 17, 2026
Latest reading
As of July 2026, Under Construction (Units under construction) stands at 1.26M — down from 1.26M the prior reading, 26% below the October 2022 record of 1.71M. The level lags starts by design — a unit stays in this count for the ~8-18 months it takes to build. A falling pipeline with weak starts means future supply is thinning (supportive for prices, negative for construction jobs); the 2022-24 record pipeline was the echo of the pandemic building boom working through completion. Series history runs from 1970 to present.
Sources, methodology & freshnessLast updated 2026-09-04 · Open ↓Close ↑
Full history
Units (level)
Year-over-year %
The pipeline's growth rate. Sustained contractions here mean less future supply — and less residential construction employment.
Methodology & data
Under Construction is sourced from Census via the Federal Reserve's FRED service (US Census Bureau via FRED (UNDCONTSA), monthly, seasonally adjusted, thousands of units). 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 2026-09-04. 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 Housing Units Under Construction?
The total number of privately owned housing units (single-family plus multifamily) under construction at month-end, from the Census Bureau's New Residential Construction survey, monthly since 1970. It is the housing pipeline: starts flow in, completions flow out.
How do you read Under Construction?
The level lags starts by design — a unit stays in this count for the ~8-18 months it takes to build. A falling pipeline with weak starts means future supply is thinning (supportive for prices, negative for construction jobs); the 2022-24 record pipeline was the echo of the pandemic building boom working through completion.
Where does the Under Construction data come from?
US Census Bureau via FRED (UNDCONTSA), monthly, seasonally adjusted, thousands of units. 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/housing-under-construction.csv.
How often is Under Construction updated?
Under Construction is a monthly series from Census, refreshed here as soon as a new release posts to FRED.
Units under construction
- YoY %
- -6.0%
Next release: Sep 17, 2026