Housing Starts Hit 16-Year Low in December 

Coming in lower than already-low expectations, the Commerce Department said Thursday morning that housing starts in December dropped 14 percent: Privately-owned housing starts in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,006,000. This is 14.2 percent (±8.3%) below the revised November estimate of 1,173,000 and is 38.2 percent (±4.9%) below the revised December 2006 rate of 1,629,000.