Single-family housing starts were virtually unchanged from the previous month at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 454,000 units in June, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. Meanwhile, a 21.5 percent decline on the more volatile multi-family side weighed down the overall housing production number, which fell 5 percent to a 549,000-unit rate.

“As our most recent member surveys have indicated, builders remain very cautious in light of the sluggish pace of the economic recovery and the hesitancy they are seeing among potential home buyers,” says Bob Jones, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Bloomfield Hills, Mich. “However, today’s report is actually somewhat encouraging, because it indicates that single-family production is stabilizing following an expected lull that occurred with the end of the home buyer tax credit program.”

Nearly all of the 5 percent decline in housing production was on the multi-family side this June, which fell 21.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 95,000 units. Meanwhile, single-family starts posted a small 0.7 percent decline to 454,000 units. All four regions posted declines in overall housing production, with an 11.3 percent reduction in the Northeast, a 6.9 percent decline in the Midwest, a 2.4 percent decline in the South, and a 5.9 percent decline in the West.