Housing starts, permits fall again in Jan.

WASHINGTON – Housing starts and permits fell for the seventh straight month in January, with new-home production falling year-over-year by 16.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 466,000 units, according to U.S. Commerce Department figures released last week.
Permits for new residential construction fell 4.8 percent to a rate of 521,000 units annually. Both permit and housing start rates were “new record lows,” the National Association of Home Builders said.
“Builders are continuing to exercise extreme caution in response to market conditions, particularly weak consumer demand and the large inventory of homes for sale that is being fueled by a constant flow of foreclosures,” NAHB Chairman Joe Robson said in a statement. “We are certainly optimistic that the newly signed economic stimulus package – and particularly the enhanced first-time homebuyer tax credit – will spark more consumer demand for homes going forward. However, until that happens, builders have little choice but to put a hold on new construction.”
NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe added that the housing report was “even weaker than most analysts expected. Clearly, builders are waiting for consumers to return to the marketplace before putting their crews back to work, which is the prudent, though painful, thing to do at this time.”
The National Association of Home Builders, a trade group founded in 1942, produces in-depth economic analyses of the home building industry based on private and government data. To learn more, visit www.nahb.org.