With the abundance of unsold homes, including those that have faced foreclosure, homebuilders have scaled back new construction projects.

 

The annual rate of new home construction fell to the second lowest level on record 510,000 in March. This comes after February had shown marked improvement to 572,000 just a month after the lowest rate of all time 477,000 was recorded in January according to the Commerce Department. The government began keeping records of this statistic in 1959.

 

Most of the decline may be attributed to multi-family homes, which fell from an annual rate in February of 202,000 to 116,000 in March. On the bright side single-family homes, which make up the core of the housing market, maintained an annual rate even with its February total of 358,000. This may be a sign that we have reached the bottom. While actual recovery may be off in the distance signs of stabilization indicate progress.

 

Additional information is provided in the following article.