Housing Starts At Decade Low

Housing starts and permits both fall more than forecasts as builders pull back from troubled market.

Housing starts and permits both fell to the lowest levels in more than a decade, as the latest readings on the battered housing and homebuilding markets came in below expectations Thursday.

Housing starts fell 6.1 percent to an annual rate of 1.38 million in July from a revised 1.47 million rate in June. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast starts would fall to a 1.41 million pace in June.

The latest reading is the lowest level of starts since January 1997 and is down nearly 21 percent from year-earlier levels.

Starts of single-family homes fell even more sharply, dropping 7.3 percent to just over a 1 million annual rate, the lowest since December 1996 and the second lowest level in more than 12 years.

What we are witnessing is a meltdown of our housing market which has kept the economy afloat. I do not understand those who keep saying that the broader economy is just fine. How could it be when housing has been the strongest economic component? The problem with the housing market is that it is just like the dot com boom, it is not real.

The subprime mortgage debacle allowed people to buy homes at inflated prices that they could not afford. The supposed financial experts could not see this coming? I could see this coming and I am not an expert although I play one on this blog.