US residential construction picked up in July as privately-owned housing starts rose 5.2 % to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.428 million units, the highest level in five months and well above economists’ projections of about 1.29 million. The advance was powered by a resurgence in apartment construction: starts on buildings with five units or more climbed almost 10 % to roughly 470,000, the strongest pace since mid-2023. Single-family starts, the largest share of the market, increased 2.8 % to 939,000. Overall, housing starts were 12.9 % higher than a year earlier. Forward-looking indicators were less robust. Building permits—an early gauge of future activity—fell 2.8 % to 1.354 million, missing forecasts for 1.386 million. The drop marked a fourth consecutive monthly decline and took total authorisations to their lowest reading since June 2020. Multifamily permits slid sharply, while single-family permits inched up 0.5 % to 870,000. The combination of stronger current activity and a shrinking pipeline underscores a divergence in the US housing market: builders are accelerating work on existing multifamily projects even as caution over new developments persists.