July stats recently showed that the building of apartments and homes has hit the lowest figure in 17 years. The numbers for housing units were at 1.08 million in June, but fell to 965,000, again the lowest figure since March 1991. At least the figure obtained is better then the 950,000 that Wall Street economists had estimated. Single-family home construction dropped 2.9% in July, having had a previous level of 641,000, again their lowest level since Jan. 1991. New home construction dropped 39.2% last month in comparison with the figures obtained in July 2007.There had been a spike in apartment construction in June, due to a new New York City building codes that were to take affect on July 1st. However, once July was reached, the figures plummeted. Housing permits (a sign that more building is to come) for July dropped 17.7% from June, hitting 937,000, but again this is still better then the previously estimated amount of 925,000.

Right now, homebuilders are pinning their hopes on a housing rescue package that was approved by Congress last month. The package or law provides the option of a temporary $7,500 tax credit for first-time home buyers, basically a 15 year interest free loan.

Market sentiment has also hit rock bottom. The Nat. Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index, gives readings that indicate current market sentiments. A reading under 50 shows negative sentiment; the current August figure released was 16, for the second month in a row. At least things look a bit better based on the index used for measuring builder sales expectations in 6 month increments; it went up 2 points, hitting 25.