New home construction at 17-year low

From CNN:

Initial construction of U.S. homes fell to a 17-year low in March, a much
steeper-than-expected drop, according to a government report released Wednesday.

Privately owned housing starts fell to a seasonally adjusted 947,000
annual rate in March, according to the Commerce Department. The rate was down
11.9% from February's revised reading of 1.07 million and 36% lower than March
of 2007.

Economists were expecting housing starts to decline to 1.01
million, according to consensus estimates compiled by Briefing.com.

and

New construction of single-family homes, considered the core of the housing
market, were at a rate of 680,000, or 5.7% below last month's number.
Single-family housing starts have not been this low since May 1980.

Applications for building permits, considered a reliable sign of future
construction activity, fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 927,000 in
March. That's 5.8% below the revised 984,000 rate in February. Economists were
expecting permit applications to fall to 970,000.

Because of the overwhelming glut of housing inventory, both new and existing homes, this is a necessary step in eventually finding the housing bottom. Only when the level of new construction, when combined with existing-homes offered for sale and lender-held REOs drops to a point where it is sustainable by new mortgage issuances will there be a hope of recovery.

Until that time, expect there to be a race to the bottom in prices as homebuilders, home sellers, and REO departments all scramble for the few mortgage loans out there.

Photo: Construction Love, originally uploaded by Ramperto.