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Housing Starts Hit 17-Year Low

March starts plummet 11.9% as foreclosures create glut on market

By Jim O'Neill,  Newser User

Posted Apr 16, 2008 8:45 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Foreclosures and a glut of unsold homes flooding the market were blamed for an 11.9% drop in new housing starts last month, more than twice the slide economists had predicted, reports Bloomberg. Starts are at the lowest level since March 1991, according to the Commerce Department, casting a pall over hope for a rapid economic recovery. "Home construction is probably going to continue to fall right through this year,'' says one economist.

A worker lifts with a crane a completed wall for a new home at the Huntington Homes modular home factory in East Montpelier, Vt., Tuesday, March 11, 2008.
A worker lifts with a crane a completed wall for a new home at the Huntington Homes modular home factory in East Montpelier, Vt., Tuesday, March 11, 2008.   (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)
Work progresses on a new home in a Little Rock, Ark. neighborhood Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008.
Work progresses on a new home in a Little Rock, Ark. neighborhood Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008.   (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
Housing is under construction in Raleigh, N.C.
Housing is under construction in Raleigh, N.C.   (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, file)
Framer Juan Bermudes works on a new home construction in Edmond, Okla.
Framer Juan Bermudes works on a new home construction in Edmond, Okla.   (AP Photo)
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Housing market has builders worried
International Herald Tribune

Nearly a quarter million homes foreclosed in March
CNN

 
housing market • construction • Department of Commerce • new construction • subprime crisis • new housing starts • foreclosures

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