Multifamily housing starts dipped 1.6% in September following a month in which the sector delivered surprising gains while single-family housing starts remained steady from the previous month.

Multifamily housing starts dipped 1.6 percent in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,555,000 following a month in which the sector delivered surprising gains, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s September 2021 New Residential Construction Report. Those starts were still 7.4 percent above the September 2020 rate of 1,448,000, however.

Meanwhile, single-family housing starts remained the same from the previous month at a rate of 1,080,000.

Labor and material shortages have continued to hamper builders’ progress, Kelly Mangold, principal at RCLCO Real Estate Consulting, told Inman in a statement.