Housing starts at record lows

The Census Bureau reports new home construction reached record lows last month, a fitting end to the worst year in the home building business since record keeping began in 1959.
Housing starts fell 15.5 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of just 550,000, worse than the previous low of 651,000 set in November.

In population-adjusted terms, the previous record monthly lows in the low-700,000 range set in the mid-1970s are about double the current rate of home building, an astonishing statistic.

For example, prior to 2008, the low-water mark was 709,000 in May of 1975 which would be just over one million after adjusting for the growth in the U.S. population.

During all of 2008, housing starts totaled just 904,000, a decline of 33.3 percent from the level of 1.36 million units in 2007. The previous low was in 1991 when 1.01 million units were started, a total that, after adjusting for the increase in population was actually worse than last year.

Building permits, a leading indicator for new home construction, dropped to an annual rate of 549,000 in December, a decline of 10.7 percent from November, and also a record low.

This follows yesterday's dismal report by the National Association of Home Builders that pessimism has reached new all-time lows. The monthly confidence survey dropped to just 8 in January, down from 9 in December. Recall that, not more than two years ago, this index was over 50.