Bloomberg reports today:
…Building permits, a sign of future residential projects, dropped 12 percent to a 708,000 pace, the lowest since at least 1960…
Compared with October 2007, work began on 38 percent fewer homes…
The decrease in starts was led by a 31 percent decline in the Northeast…
“We are in a crisis situation,” NAHB chairman Sandy Dunn, a builder from Point Pleasant, West Virginia, said in a statement. “Tremendous economic uncertainties have driven consumers from the housing market, and it’s going to take some major incentives to bring them back.”
See also:
AP: “US home construction sinks to new record low” (11/19/08)
The Commerce Department reported that construction of new homes and apartments fell 4.5 percent in October, the fourth straight monthly decline. Construction sank to an annual rate of 791,000 units…
The results were the lowest on government records dating back to January 1959…
“The broader housing market needs fewer homes,” [Wachovia Corp. economist Adam] York said in an interview. “We built too many homes in the United States and building less is one way to work off the excess inventory.”
Boston Business Journal: “Home sales prices in Boston down 10% in Q3” (11/18/08)
In Massachusetts, sales in the third quarter were down 3.4 percent from the second quarter and 8.9 percent from a year ago, according to the association.