AP reported on Friday:
Home construction falls sharply in September
The Commerce Department reported Friday that construction of new homes and apartments dropped by 6.3 percent last month, a much bigger decline than the 1.6 percent decrease that had been expected. It pushed total production to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 817,000 units. That’s the slowest pace since January 1991…
The construction declines last month reflected weakness in many parts of the country. It was led by a 20.9 percent drop in the Northeast, where construction of single-family units fell to the lowest level on record…
Applications for building permits, considered a good sign for future activity, also fell sharply in September, dropping by 8.3 percent to an annual rate of 786,000 units, the weakest level since November 1981…
Builder sentiment dropped to a record low in October…
See also:
WBUR: “Mass. Home Sales Flatline” (10/10/08)
While single-family home prices stabilized last month, and were actually up slightly, the number of sales is way down.