The housing starts data is out. "Builders in the U.S. broke ground on the fewest homes since November 2004 as higher borrowing costs eroded demand, a government report showed. Housing starts fell 7.4 percent in April, the third straight drop, to an annual rate of 1.849 million from 1.996 million. Building permits, a sign of future construction, fell 5.4 percent to an annual rate of 1.984 million, the Commerce Department said."

"The decline in starts 'indicates builders are recognizing that the market is cooling,' (researcher) Nigel Gault. 'By the end of the year housing construction will subtract from economic growth, perhaps quite substantially.'"

"Starts fell in two of four regions. They decreased 9.7 percent in the West to an annual rate of 446,000. They rose 16 percent in the Midwest to 349,000, and fell 16 percent in the South to 863,000. Starts rose 9.1 percent in the Northeast to 191,000."

"The number of homes under construction fell 1.6 percent last month to a 1.388 million pace from 1.411 million. Housing completions fell 6.6 percent, the biggest decline since June 2002, to an annual rate of 2.077 million. The number of housing units authorized, but not yet started, fell 0.5 percent to 232,500."

"Slowing sales have caused inventories to pile up. The number of new homes for sale at the end of March was a record 555,000, the Commerce Department said."

From Southern Oregon. "Four years ago, Matt Bryant says the forms were still on the foundations when buyers snapped up homes he built on speculation. Today, the owner of Riverdell Homes in Central Point says homes are nearly complete before buyers commit."

"'People want to see the actual finished product before they buy,' Bryant says. 'When the boom started, houses were sold in the first month or two.'"

"The brakes haven't been slammed on, but the foot is definitely off the pedal for Jackson County homebuilding. Figures show building permits were issued in the first three months of this year, down 27 percent from the first quarter of 2005."

"In Medford, 217 permits were issued through the first four months of 2005, compared to 124 this year. In Central Point, 100 permits were doled out by this time last year, and just 56 were issued this year."

"Like most local builders, Charlie Hamilton, a Talent developer, is easing up on 'spec' starts, begun without a buyer lined up. More importantly he says he's keeping his houses in a desirable price range. 'Interest rates are creeping up and there has been more product on the market, but we're assuming things can't go up forever,'"

"'I think it's a more realistic market right now,' said Randy Jones, general manager of Mahar Homes of Medford. 'I'm not seeing the panic, urgent-buying frenzy we've seen. During the past four months, we're seeing more good end-users, not speculators buying homes to flip them for profit.'"

"The longer spec houses sit on the market during, the more builders shoulder the cost of rising mortgage rates that are now around 61/2 percent. 'We haven't had a problem selling our houses,' says Mark Wickman. 'Personally, as a builder I'm going to be careful about getting too many specs out in front of me and focus on pre-solds. I'm very debt-phobic and never get stuck way out there.'"