Decreased housing starts predicted

The nationwide decrease in residential construction and sales will
continue at least until early 2009, starting with a 27 percent drop in
single-family home starts, leading economists said at the International
Builders’ Show in Orlando last week. However falling home prices and
mortgage interest rates may help stabilize the economy by encouraging
people to buy, said the chief economist for the National Association of
Home Builders. He pointed out that lowered home values also run the
risk of making people less confident about their wealth.