Ouch, the new home construction numbers are tough for the month of January. The Commerce department had pitiful numbers for housing starts, down 16.6 percent, and lackluster building permit numbers, down 4.8 percent.

The housing industry is facing a tough road. With Washington playing it’s plan of the month approach and home buyers sitting on the sidelines, builders are caught in the middle. They have no idea what to build, where to build it, and if a buyer will be even interested in buying a home they build.

The operative word for the home building industry right now is “Ouch”.

The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that construction of new homes and apartments dropped 16.8 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 466,000 units. That’s well below the 530,000 units economists expected, and was the slowest pace on records dating back a half-century.

Applications for building permits, considered a good barometer of future activity, also dropped to a record low, falling 4.8 percent to a rate of 521,000 units, slightly below economists’ expectations.

The continued weakness underscored the problems facing the housing industry, which is in the grips of the worst slump in the post-World War II period. Troubles in housing have pushed the country into a recession and also triggered the worst financial crisis in seven decades as banks struggle to cope with billions of dollars of losses in mortgages and other types of loans. Yahoo! Finance.

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2. Canadian Real Estate Sales Drops 17 Percent in 2008
3. February U.S. Home Sales Climb 4.7% in February, 2009
4. Construction Jobs Down 13 Percent From Last Year
5. Top 10 States For Foreclosures in January 2009