The Commerce Department reported yesterday that new-home construction plunged to its lowest level since 1959 when the department started tracking the data. It said that construction of new homes and apartments fell 15.5 percent to an annual rate of 550,000 units in December, shattering the previous low set in November.
The 904,000 housing units on which ground was broken last year was also a record low and marked a 33 percent decline from the 1,355,000 housing units started in 2007.
An article by Jeannine Aversa of the Associated Press today noted that "builders are skeptical about the prospects of a housing turnaround as unemployment continues to climb and business lending remains tight."
Eugene James, director of the Atlanta region for Metrostudy, a company that tracks housing starts and closings, was quoted in the article as saying that "Builders are screaming and yelling and crying because they can't get a construction loan from the financial institutions," adding that "You've got builders out there that are out of inventory already in their subdivisions."
An article by Jack Healy in today's edition of The New York Times quoted John Lonski, chief economist of Moody's Capital Markets, as noting that "the worst is not over," adding that "rising unemployment and tightening credit conditions are worsening the prospects for housing, which by itself suggests that we could be surprised at how poorly the economy performs in the early part of 2009."
The 904,000 housing units on which ground was broken last year was also a record low and marked a 33 percent decline from the 1,355,000 housing units started in 2007.
An article by Jeannine Aversa of the Associated Press today noted that "builders are skeptical about the prospects of a housing turnaround as unemployment continues to climb and business lending remains tight."
Eugene James, director of the Atlanta region for Metrostudy, a company that tracks housing starts and closings, was quoted in the article as saying that "Builders are screaming and yelling and crying because they can't get a construction loan from the financial institutions," adding that "You've got builders out there that are out of inventory already in their subdivisions."
An article by Jack Healy in today's edition of The New York Times quoted John Lonski, chief economist of Moody's Capital Markets, as noting that "the worst is not over," adding that "rising unemployment and tightening credit conditions are worsening the prospects for housing, which by itself suggests that we could be surprised at how poorly the economy performs in the early part of 2009."
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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