The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reports that housing starts fell 22.5 percent in February, the second slowest pace on record.  Permits to build new homes dropped 8.2 percent.  Chief economist of NAHB David Crowe, said, “We need to see several months of consistent improvement in economic factors, plus concrete signs that the flow of credit to housing is improving, in order for the industry to return to a steady recovery and facilitate job growth.”  Multifamily starts declined 46.1 percent.  Regionally, the Midwest fared the worst in housing starts with a 48.6 percent decline.  In other areas, the loss was 37.5 percent in the Northeast, 28 percent in the West and 6.3 percent in the South.