May 19: Housing Starts Fall to an all-time low

Housing Starts in April fell to an annual pace of 458,000, a new all time low, with the record previously held by January’s pace of 477,000, which is much less than expected (524,000 estimated).  Over the month, the figure fell by 12.8% from March’s revised pace of 525,000, and over the year the figure has tanked by 54.2% from the April 2008 pace of 1,001,000.  Housing Starts fell by 30.6% in the Northeast, down 21.4% in the Midwest, down 21.1% in the South, and up 42.5% in the West.  Building Permits also fell in April by 3.3% to 494,000 from the 511,000 revised pace in March.  Over the year, Building Permits fell by 50.2% from the 991,000 pace in April 2008. 

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