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America Builds... on Sand: Housing Starts Jump, Permits Collapse

EDITOR'S NOTES

Another month, another manipulated narrative. The regime wants you to believe the housing market’s bouncing back because a few hammers hit plywood in July. Don’t buy it. Beneath the surface of this so-called “housing recovery” is a grim truth: the foundation is rotting. Permits—aka future construction—are circling the drain. Builders are nervous, demand is fake, and the entire housing economy is being throttled by the same cocktail of high rates, global trade interference, and labor policy failures. Let’s dissect the illusion.

Derek Wolfe Aug 20, 25

More Homes… But Built on Broken Signals

The government just reported a 5% spike in new home construction for July, clocking in at a 1.4 million annualized pace. Sounds great, right? Look deeper. The bulk of the jump came from multifamily units—up 10% in a single month. Translation: big real estate funds throwing up more overpriced rentals no one wants. Single-family homes? Barely moved—just a 2% uptick.

Even mainstream economists are calling the bluff. Pantheon Macroeconomics dismissed it as “noise.” In other words: this isn’t a trend—it’s a twitch. A volatile, error-prone monthly data blip meant to keep the illusion alive for just a little longer.

Permits Collapse: The Future’s Already Fading

While the media claps for July’s starts, the real story is where we’re not going. Building permits—a crystal ball for future activity—dropped nearly 3% to 1.35 million. That’s the weakest since the lockdown days of 2020. Year-over-year? Down 6%. That’s not a correction—it’s a flashing red light.

Builders are backing off. Why? Because they’re not dumb. They know the buyers aren’t coming. Mortgages are still too expensive, and working families are maxed out. No one's signing contracts on speculative dreams anymore.

Systemic Stress: Tariffs, Labor, and Monetary Tightening

This isn’t just about rates. It’s about a rigged economy breaking at every seam.

Tariffs are quietly jacking up material costs again, thanks to a bipartisan addiction to economic nationalism with no foresight.
Labor is drying up—not because Americans don’t want to work, but because years of erratic immigration crackdowns have gutted the construction labor pool. And no, robots aren’t laying bricks yet.
And of course, the Fed’s war on inflation is still squeezing demand with its death grip on interest rates, grinding the entire housing engine to a halt.

The Bottom Line: This Isn’t a Recovery—It’s Controlled Demolition

Economists like Jeffrey Roach admit it outright: housing has been in a slow-motion recession since 2022, and there are still no “green shoots” in sight. They want you to believe recovery might arrive in 2026—two more years of stagnation, dislocation, and hollowed-out communities. That’s not a forecast—it’s a prison sentence.

Call to Action

Don't let propaganda dictate your perception of "growth." This housing market isn’t rising—it’s convulsing. Learn how to shield yourself before the next phase hits. Download Seven Steps to Protect Yourself from Bank Failure by Bill Brocius and get ahead of the fallout.

— The illusion is cracking. Stay skeptical, stay armed with knowledge, and never trust the numbers until you’ve followed the money.