/ Source: The Associated Press
The Commerce Department said Wednesday that applications for future new home construction fell sharply in January, though there was a modest increase in construction last month.
The Commerce Department said construction of new homes and apartments rose by 0.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of just over 1 million units. That’s the first increase since October and followed a plunge of 14.8 percent in December.
Applications for new construction, considered a good sign of where construction is headed, fell by 3 percent. That translates to just over one million units, the lowest level since November 1991. The data are viewed as evidence that the nation’s troubled housing sector has yet to hit bottom.