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December 2, 2008 6:52:06 AM CST

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Housing Starts Hit 17-Year Low

Posted Apr 16, 08 8:45 AM CDT in Business 

(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.

Source Bloomberg

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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)
Framer Juan Bermudes works on a new home construction in Edmond, Okla.   (AP Photo)
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.   (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, file)
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subprime crisis • housing market • foreclosure • construction • Commerce Department • new construction


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