November’s numbers are grim. Housing starts are down almost 19 percent from October, and down 47 percent from November 2007. Nobody I’ve read is willing to predict where the bottom of this market is, but housing experts say there are still several years’ worth of adjustable rate mortgages coming up on their balloon dates. Those could hamstring the residential sector, further depress prices and keep annual starts below a million until the middle of the next decade.
