The Census Bureau has the new home numbers out. "Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,535,000. This is 28.0 percent (±1.2%) below the October 2005 estimate of 2,131,000. Single-family authorizations in October were at a rate of 1,173,000; this is 3.8 percent (±1.3%) below the September figure."

"Privately-owned housing starts in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,486,000. This is 14.6 percent (±7.6%) below the revised September estimate of 1,740,000 and is 27.4 percent (±5.3%) below the October 2005 rate of 2,046,000."

"Single-family housing starts in October were at a rate of 1,177,000; this is 15.9 percent (±7.4%) below the September figure of 1,400,000."

From Bloomberg. "Housing starts in the U.S. tumbled in October to the lowest level in more than six years, as waning home sales and swollen inventories discouraged new projects."

"'This is a shocking number,' said Phillip Neuhart, an economist at Wachovia Corp. 'The market is going to remain weak well into next year.'"

"The decline was led by a 26 percent drop in the South. Starts also fell 12 percent in the Midwest and 2.1 percent in the West. Construction rose 31 percent in the Northeast."

"The number of homes available for sale averaged 556,000 a month this year through September. That compares with a 457,000 monthly average for the same period in 2005 and 351,000 during the past 10 years, according to government figures."

"'The excess supply of homes on the market is putting downward pressure on prices and that's making some potential buyers put off a purchase until the negative impact is finished or near finished,' said David Berson, chief economist of Washington-based Fannie Mae."

From Reuters. "Many economists had thought the worst of the housing slump had already passed, and data released earlier this week seemed to support that idea, but Friday's data cast doubt on that view. 'The raw number (housing starts) looks incredibly weak,' said econimst Robert McIntosh."

"Permits for future groundbreaking, an indicator of builder confidence, fell 6.3 percent to an annual pace of 1.535 million units, the lowest rate since December 1997, from a 1.638 million pace in September. Permit applications were down 28 percent from October 2005."

From CNN Money. "Both housing starts and applications for new building permits tumbled well below Wall Street forecasts - a sign that the slumping housing market has not yet hit bottom."

"'Today's figures clearly reveal that a quick turnaround in this sector is not just around the corner,' said Anthony Chan, chief economist for JPMorgan Chase Private Client Services. 'Any real turnaround may not be forthcoming until the central bank reverses course and begins to lower short-term rates again.'"

"There had been hopes from other recent real estate reports that perhaps the slump in home sales and home building had bottomed out. The National Association of Home Builders' survey of builder confidence for November posted a modest increase for the second month, even though far more builders still saw the market as poor rather than good."