New US house construction falls to record low
by Kay Murchie
The US Commerce Department has today revealed that new US housebuilding fell to a record low in April, sending shares down following yesterday‘s rebound.
According to official figures, new housing starts fell 12.8% to an annual rate of 458,000 units - the lowest level since records began fifty years ago.
On an annual basis, housing starts are down 54.2% as builders mothball building projects for fear of falling real estate prices.
Commenting on the figures, Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at Johnson Illington Advisors, told the BBC: “It’s just as I said a month ago - I can’t imagine that housing starts and permits can get much weaker than they are. And you wait a month and they get weaker.”
In the meantime, applications for building permits, a barometer of future home construction, fell 50.2% compared with April 2008.
Following the news, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 12.11 points (0.14%) at 8,491.97.
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Tags: building permits, Commerce Department, construction, fall, house, record low, shares, US, Wall Street
