Housing Starts, which measure the start of construction on homes, fell 0.5% from October to November. Starts for single-family homes, which are the most important because they are in such high demand among buyers, declined 4.1% from October and 32.1% from November of last year. Building Permits for single-family homes, which are indicative of future supply, also fell 7.1% for the month and 29.7% year over year.

What’s the bottom line? There is a big difference between housing the economic driver and housing the investment. Clearly activity has slowed but the low supply environment in new homes (and in existing homes as noted above) will continue to be supportive of prices. This is a stark contrast to the housing crash where demand was lower, but builders were putting up a record number of homes.