U.S. housing starts slowed in September, with privately owned units beginning construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.221 million, down 5.2% from August and 7.4% from September 2025, the Census Bureau and HUD reported Oct. 20. Building permits also slipped year over year, while completions were 14% below the year-earlier pace. These are volatile monthly estimates, and the reported confidence intervals are wide; the agencies caution against reading a single month's change as a definitive turn. Housing supply matters to families across the country, including Latino households, but this release does not break the figures out by ethnicity or establish what caused the monthly decline.