Builders are really, really glum, but permits rise

This graph from CalculatedRiskBlog.com says it all.

Do you want the good news or the bad news first?

The good news is that reduced confidence leads to reduced inventory, and Lord Keynes was right about the correlation between supply and demand.

Additional good news comes from HUD, which documents promising increases in housing starts and permit issuance.

The bad news is that decreased building means fewer jobs and a sluggish economic recovery.

Single-family housing starts continue to climb

Production and permitting of new single-family homes continued on an upward trajectory in July, according to newly reported numbers from the U.S. Commerce Department today.

But substantial declines on the multifamily side dragged down the overall numbers, with combined single- and multifamily starts down 1 percent and permits off by 1.8 percent.