Despite single-family housing starts falling seven percent in December, 2013 from November’s surge of 16 percent, when builders were scurrying to put foundations in the ground before the freeze set in, housing starts for the year were up 15 percent over 2012. The Census Bureau informs MHProNews multifamily starts, which also fell in December—minus 18 percent over November—rose 25 percent over 2012. According to nationalmortgagenews, economists at IHS Global Insight say while builders began 923,400 homes and apartments in 2013, “They completed only 762,000 homes—the fifth lowest on record (data started in 1968), and not even half of what we judge to be normal.”

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