Housing Starts Decline in February

Housing construction starts fell by 5.9% across the country for the month of February. This is due to the extreme weather that parts of the country have been experiencing and a declining demand for new house construction. An article from Bloomberg's Businessweek said:

Housing starts in the U.S. fell in February as record snowfall in parts of the country hampered construction, while fewer building permits signaled demand is stagnating.

Mounting foreclosures are making it harder to clear inventories, keeping pressure on prices and discouraging new construction. The economy has yet to create the sustained job growth that could invigorate housing demand and is one reason Federal Reserve policy makers will probably keep interest rates near zero after their meeting today.

This is certainly not aiding in the recovery of the housing market. This decline in housing starts hopefully is mostly due to the mentioned weather problems rather than indicating that the housing market is still unstable.