New housing starts and permits plunged
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 New housing starts and permits plunged to record lows in November, as long-standing problems in the housing market continued to weigh on the U.S. economy, a Commerce Department report showed on Tuesday.
Housing
starts fell 18.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of
625,000 units from 771,000 units in October. That was much less than
the 740,000 starts Wall Street analysts expected for November.