Today’s Census print on single-family housing starts was a head-scratcher. Homebuilders we survey (consistent sample size with minimal noise) saw starts per community drop -13% YOY nationally in July, with all regions falling except for the Midwest. In order for the Census data to be correct on July single-family starts +7% YOY (NSA), builders would need to grow community counts ~+20% YOY, which is very hard to believe and doesn’t match what we're hearing, even from the big builders.