Residential building, at $288.5 billion (annual rate), advanced 4 percent in July. In similarity to recent months, the main residential push in July came from multifamily housing, which surged 21 percent. July included the start of 16 multifamily projects valued each at $100 million or more, led by the following – a $468 million apartment building in Long Island City, N.Y., a $445 million condominium building in New York, and a $358 million multifamily building in Miami.

Single-family housing in July slipped back 4 percent, continuing its up-and-down pattern around a modestly rising trend. The year-to-date dollar amount of single family starts at the U.S. level was up 14 percent, due to this pattern by major region – the West, up 22 percent; the South Atlantic, up 19 percent; the South Central, up 10 percent; the Midwest, up 6 percent; and the Northeast, down 3 percent.