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Report from
North America
Housing starts plunged in July
After reporting a spike in new residential construction in
the US in the previous month, the US Department of
Commerce’s latest report showed housing starts
plummeted by much more than expected in July.
The Commerce Department said housing starts nosedived
by 12.4% to an annual rate of 1.239 million in July after
skyrocketing by 19.7% to a revised rate of 1.415 million in
June. Economists had expected housing starts to fall by
5.4% to an annual rate of 1.35 million from the 1.427
million originally reported for the previous month.
The monthly drop in housing starts reflected significant
decreases in both single-family and multi-family starts.
The report said single-family starts plunged by 9.9% to an
annual rate of 808,000, while multi-family starts dove by
16.8% to an annual rate of 431,000.
"Topline housing starts have followed a see-saw pattern in
recent months, largely due to volatility in multifamily
construction," said Nationwide financial market economist
Oren Klachkin. "Until mortgage rates decline and allow
builders to unload currently completed homes or those
under construction, we expect home builders to remain
hesitant to make significant investments in new projects."
On the positive side, the Commerce Department said
building permits surged by 5% to an annual rate of 1.443
million in July after tumbling by 2.6% to a revised rate of
1.374 million in June.
"The lift in building permits indicates that housing starts
should rebound again in August, although this was led
again by the multifamily space," said Klachkin.
In Canada, housing starts continued to fall last month, with
fewer new projects kicking off in Toronto and other big
cities despite a rise in completions and signs of life in the
resale market. Housing starts across Canada came in at a
seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 229,074 units, a
4.9% decline from the month before, Canada Mortgage
and Housing Corporation said. The market was expecting
about 250,000 residential housing projects to have started
during the month, following a 5.6% drop in June,
according to economists at TD Securities.
See: https://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/current/index.html
and
https://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/articles/us-housing-starts-
plunge-12-143327941.html?guccounter=1
July home sales fell after higher mortgage rates scared
off buyers
US home sales fell in July, getting the summer off to a
poor start after the housing market suffered through
another sluggish spring selling season.
Sales of existing homes declined 1.7% in July over the
previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of
4.06 million, the National Association of Realtors said.
The rise in mortgage rates following heightened tensions
in the Middle East continued to put off home buyers. The
Mideast conflict has stymied the housing market in a year
the real-estate industry was optimistic would bring a
rebound in home sales following years of stagnation.
Economists don’t expect rates to fall soon, with
geopolitical conflict as well as spending on artificial
intelligence fueling inflation.
Yet high rates may not be the deterrent that they used to be
for everyone, economists say. The pent-up demand for
housing has caused some potential home buyers to lose
patience, even with high mortgage rates and an uncertain
economy.
“Home sales have been remarkably stable, even amid the
rising mortgage rate environment of the past few months,”
said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. Despite the
month-over-month decline, July home sales ticked up
0.7% from a year ago.
In July, there was a 2.0% increase in sales month-over-
month in the Northeast US, to an annual rate of 500,000.
That was unchanged from July 2025. In the Midwest, sales
decreased 2.0% month-over-month to an annual rate of
970,000—up 2.1% year-over-year. The largest decrease
was in the South, where month-over-month sales slid 3.1%
to an annual rate of 1.86 million, which was unchanged
from July 2025. And in the West, sales were unchanged
month-over-month at an annual rate of 730,000. That was
up 1.4% year-over-year.
See: https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/nar-existing-home-sales-
report-shows-1-7-decrease-in-july
US economy lost 23,000 jobs in July
The US economy unexpectedly shed 23,000 jobs in July,
undershooting economists' expectations and signaling the
job market may be slowing. The US Department of Labor
also revised down the May and June jobs numbers by a
combined 103,000, a sign hiring was weaker than
previously reported.
"Hiring has gone into reverse — the economy actually
shed jobs last month — and it turns out many of the jobs
we thought were there in previous months never really
existed," said Nic Puckrin, markets expert and former
Goldman Sachs analyst.
The labor force participation rate — the percentage of the
population that is either working or actively looking for
work — also fell again, reaching 61.4% in July, the lowest
level since February 2021.
Losses across local government education and retail
dragged down last month's employment data, with the
sectors losing 50,000 and 19,000 jobs, respectively.
Healthcare, which has been the main driver this year for
payroll gains in the US economy, added 22,000 jobs.
Employment manufacturing showed little change over the
month, while construction added 22,000 jobs, following a
gain of 5,000 in June.
See: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
and
https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-
industry-news/construction-employment-rises-amid-cooling-
labor-market-reports-home
US economic growth slowed in Q2 2026
US economic growth slowed unexpectedly in the second
quarter of the year, according to the Commerce
Department's advance estimate.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its
advance estimate of second-quarter GDP, which showed
the economy grew at an annualised rate of 1.5% in the
three-month period including April, May and June. That
figure was below the 2.1% growth estimate of economists
polled by LSEG. It comes after the US economy grew at a
rate of roughly 2.1% in the first quarter of 2026. Taken
together with the advance second-quarter estimate, the US
economy grew about 1.8% in the first half of this year.
Last year, the US economy grew at an annualized rate of
4.4% in the third quarter and 0.5% in the fourth quarter,
which contributed to a growth rate of about 2.1% for all of
2025.
The BEA reported that the main categories that
contributed to the rise in real GDP in the second quarter
were increases in consumer spending, investment and
exports – which were partly offset by a decrease in
government spending. Imports increased in the second
quarter.
See: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/us-economic-
growth-slows-unexpectedly-in-second-quarter/ar-
AA293FOa?ocid=BingNewsVerp
and
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/us-economic-
growth-slows-unexpectedly-in-second-quarter/ar-
AA293FOa?ocid=BingNewsVerp
US consumer sentiment heading back down
US consumer sentiment slumped in early August amid
worries about the rising cost of living because of the
conflict in the Middle East. The University of Michigan's
Surveys of Consumers said its Consumer Sentiment Index
dropped to 51.0 this month from 55.2 in July, ending two
straight months of improvement. Economists polled by
Reuters had forecasted the index would be at 54.5.
The decline in sentiment occurred across the political
spectrum, with an especially big month-to-month drop
among Republicans.
"Sentiment among Republicans is now 19% below
readings just prior to the Iran conflict and the lowest since
the 2024 election," said Joanne Hsu, the Director of the
Surveys of Consumers.
"Although the early-month weakening in sentiment was
pervasive across various demographic groups, notably
large reductions were seen among older consumers, lower-
income consumers and those without a college degree."
See: https://www.sca.isr.umich.edu/
and
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/us-consumer-
sentiment-deteriorates-in-august/ar-
AA2a7E0V?ocid=BingNewsVerp
Furniture and wood products finally enjoy
manufacturing growth enjoyed by other US industries
The Institute for Supply Management said its
manufacturing PMI rose to 55.6 in July, up 2.3 percentage
points from June's 53.3 and the highest reading since May
2022, when the index hit 55.9. The sector has now
expanded for seven consecutive months following a 10-
month contraction.
Susan Spence, chair of the ISM Manufacturing Business
Survey Committee, said the July result reflected broad-
based momentum, with four of five PMI subindexes
growing at a faster rate than in June.
Spence said, "companies are seeing six or more months of
these solid demand factors going in the right direction."
While most industries surveyed by ISM have been
showing growth for much of the year, both the Wood
Products sector and the Furniture & Related Products
sector have contracted. In July both sectors showed
growth, as 15 of the 18 industries surveyed reported
expansion.
Wood Products saw a rise in prices and inventories and a
decrease in new export orders. Furniture & Related
Products saw an increase in new orders, prices, order
backlogs and new export orders.
See: https://www.ismworld.org/supply-management-news-and-
reports/reports/ism-pmi-reports/pmi/july/
and
https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-
industry-news/wood-and-furniture-related-products-gain-overall-
latest-pmi-report
June cabinet sales continue drop but there are positive
signs
Cabinet manufacturers reported that overall cabinet sales
dropped in June 2026 compared to the same month in
2025, continuing a decline that has continued since 2025.
Each month in 2026 saw monthly declines, which
followed 2025 sales that also ended in decline. Having
said that, there were some positive signs evident.
In the latest Trend of Business report from the Kitchen
Cabinet Manufacturers Association, responding companies
reported overall sales of US$191.0 million for June 2026,
a decrease of 2.8% from the year prior. Semi-custom and
stock cabinets sales were hit the hardest. Semi-custom
sales dropped 7.5% to $104.561 million and stock sales
fell 1.2%, to $31,987 million.
On the positive side of the ledger, custom sales were up
6.6% to US$54,490. In June 2025, custom sales were
US$51,134. Overall, respondents reported a cabinet
quantity for the month of 498,035, down 7.0% compared
to June 2025 figures.
In the short term, July sales showed growth over the
previous month in all three categories. Survey respondents
reported that in June custom sales were up 4.5%; semi-
custom sales were up 2.4% and stock cabinet sales were
up 8.8%. Cabinet quantity compared to the month prior
rose 13.1%.
Year-to-date sales remain in the red, however. For the year
to date, estimated sales by responding companies were
US$1,060 million and cabinet quantity was 2.741 million.
Custom sales were down 1.4%; semi-custom sales fell
8.8%; and stock sales dropped 9.0%.
See: https://kcma.org/insights/april-2026-trend-business-report
International Trade Commission rules imports harmed
US plywood industry
On August 19, the US International Trade Commission
(USITC) announced its injury determinations in its
antidumping and countervailing duty investigations
concerning hardwood and decorative plywood from China,
Indonesia and Viet Nam that the US Department of
Commerce determined are subsidized and sold in the
United States at less than fair value and subsidized by the
governments of China, Indonesia and Viet Nam.
USISSTC Chairman Brett W. Doyle and Commissioners
Jason S. Kearns and Peter-Anthony Pappas voted in the
affirmative regarding hardwood and decorative plywood
(excluding all softwood structural plywood) from China,
Indonesia and Viet Nam..
The ITC determination follows petitions Wiley filed on
May 22, 2025, on behalf of the Coalition, which consists
of five leading US HDP producers: Columbia Forest
Products, Commonwealth Plywood, Manthei Wood
Products, States Industries and Timber Products. The
petitions alleged that dumped and subsidized imports of
Chinese, Indonesian and Viet Namese HDP are injuring
the domestic industry and threaten the industry with
further injury.
On July 16, the Commerce Department published
affirmative final determinations of antidumping and
countervailing duties, finding combined antidumping and
countervailing margins of 275% for China, 28% to 213%
for Indonesia and 138% to 255% for Viet Nam. The final
determinations included the following company-specific
findings:
All Chinese producers are subject to a CVD rate
of 88.96% and an AD rate of 187.27%.
Indonesian producer PT Wijaya Cahaya Timber
is subject to a CVD rate of 58.39% and an AD
rate of 15.4%.
Indonesia AD PT Sengon Indah Mas/PT Java
Wood Industri is subject to a CVD rate of 4.22%
and an AD rate of 23.88%.
Indonesian producer PT. Mustika Buana
Sejahtera is subject to a CVD rate of 128.66%
and an AD rate of 84.94%.
All other Indonesian producers are subject to a
CVD rate of 40.87% and an AD rate of 18.1%.
Vietnamese producer Junma Phu Tho Co., Ltd., is
subject to a CVD rate of 165.39% and an AD rate
of 90.12%.
Vietnamese producer Trieu Thai Son Co., Ltd
and Nhat Duy Production and Trading Co., Ltd.
are subject to a CVD rate of 47.68% and an AD
rate of 90.12%.
All other Vietnamese producers are subject to a
CVD rate of 47.68% and an AD rate of 90.12%.
Following the ITC's final affirmative determinations, the
Commerce Department will issue antidumping and
countervailing orders requiring payment of the applicable
duty deposits on imports of HDP from China, Indonesia
and Viet Nam. The orders will remain in effect for a
minimum of five years and may be reviewed annually
through the Commerce Department's administrative
review process.
The full report will be available on the USITC website by
September 28, 2026.
See: https://ids.usitc.gov/case/8288/investigation/8781
and
https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-
industry-news/international-trade-commission-rules-imports-
harmed-us-plywood
Chinese exporters face +200% duties on wooden
bedroom furniture
On 12 August 12 the US Department of Commerce
published the final results of its administrative review on
wooden bedroom furniture from China for the 2024
calendar year. The notice solidifies strict anti-dumping
measures against non-compliant exporters and sets the rate
at 216.01%.
According to the Federal Register notice from the
International Trade Administration, 11 Chinese companies
failed to establish eligibility for an independent, lower
tariff rate. Because they failed to prove independence from
state control, all 11 companies remain grouped under the
"China-wide entity."
The exporters now face a "stacked" 253.51% rate,
according to recent reports in Wood Central and Furniture
Today. The rate is the combined total of multiple
compounding import duties levied by the United States
government on specific furniture imports.
In essence, several separate tariff structures that "stack" on
top of one another rather than replacing each other,
including the China-Wide Antidumping Duty (216.01%)
and the remainder of the total comes from standard Most-
Favored-Nation (MFN) duties, Section 301 tariffs and
newly implemented global furniture tariffs that added an
extra 10% to 12.5% onto baseline furniture imports.
See:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/08/12/2026-
16446/wooden-bedroom-furniture-from-the-peoples-republic-of-
china-final-results-of-antidumping-duty
and
https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-
industry-news/chinese-exporters-face-200-duties
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