Housing Starts Clipped in December

In yet another sign that the residential market could be cooling, single-family housing starts fell 12% in December to their lowest level since March.According to government figures, single-family starts totaled 1.577 million units during the month, compared with 1.798 million units in November. Compared with the level of a year earlier, starts fell 8%. National Association of Home Builders president David Pressly said "housing markets across the country have cooled, as predicted, and builders are aware that some slowing in demand is inevitable following the record-breaking sales for the past three years." Overall housing starts (which include multifamily) fell by 9% during the month. Greenwich Capital analyst Steve Stanley said "it is a little early to eulogize the housing sector," blaming some of the falloff in activity on bad weather conditions in the Northeast and the Midwest.