That graph doesn't tell the story, it's just picked because single family is the simplest indicator and has well defined economic benefit. The figures always incorporate new housing units -- a 20 story high-rise does not look like a single family home in the stats.
Single family construction is the canary in the coal mine because the costs are escalating to the point where more and more people are priced out. New construction is $150-275/sqft (10% more if no garage is present). When I started working in 2000, it was about half that. Per-unit costs drop with multi-family, but it's still creeping up there. The minimum price for finished new construction condos in my area (which is usually a 50th percentile market in the US) is about $350k.
You can look at the raw data and see single/multi/large residential starts: https://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/pdf/bpsa.pdf
Single family construction is the canary in the coal mine because the costs are escalating to the point where more and more people are priced out. New construction is $150-275/sqft (10% more if no garage is present). When I started working in 2000, it was about half that. Per-unit costs drop with multi-family, but it's still creeping up there. The minimum price for finished new construction condos in my area (which is usually a 50th percentile market in the US) is about $350k.