US building permits dropped by 3% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.367 million in June 2026, below the market expectations of 1.40 million, preliminary figures showed. Permits for buildings with five or more units slipped 4.9% to 445,000, and single-family permits fell 2.4% to 871,000. Regionally, permits dropped in the South (-7.2% to 707,000) and the West (-6.2% to 302,000), but rose in the Northeast (15.8% to 154,000) and the Midwest (5.7% to 204,000).