Multifamily housing starts declined 40.3 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 212,000. However, average multifamily starts for the final quarter of 2007 held at 321,000 units, above the averages for each of the previous three quarters.

Overall permit issuance declined 8.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.07 million units in December. Single-family permits declined 10.1 percent to a 692,000-unit rate while multifamily permits were down 4.1 percent to 376,000 units.

The housing numbers for December, combined with other less than positive news, has given the R-word ?EUR??,,????'??+ recession ?EUR??,,????'??+ more prominence.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told recently told Congress that the economy is ?EUR??,,????'??suffering?EUR??,,????'?? and said a stimulus package would help shore up growth. He repeated that he?EUR??,,????'???s ready to respond to the faltering expansion after cutting the main interest rate by one percentage point since September.

?EUR??,,????'??The likelihood of a recession has increased,?EUR??,,????'?? said Gary Bigg, an economist at Bank of America Corp. in New York. ?EUR??,,????'??We?EUR??,,????'???re looking for fairly weak growth over the first half of 2008.?EUR??,,????'??

Regionally, combined single- and multifamily housing starts were down by double digits in the Northeast (down 25.8 percent), Midwest (down 30.8 percent) and West (down 19.6 percent) for the month. The South faired the best, with only a 3.3 percent reduction in overall housing starts.

Meanwhile, housing permits were down, by lesser margins, in three out of four regions in December. The Midwest posted a 10.6 percent decline, the South posted a 7.8 percent decline, and the West posted an 11.6 percent decline in overall permits for the month, while the Northeast registered a 1.6 percent increase.

On an annual basis, year-end figures from the Commerce Department indicate that overall housing starts declined 24.8 percent in 2007 to 1.35 million units. Single-family starts were down 28.7 percent for the year to 1.05 million units, while multifamily starts were off by 8.4 percent to 308,000 units. Overall permit issuance for new homes and apartments declined 25.2 percent in 2007 to 1.38 million units, with a 29.4 percent decline on the single-family side to 973,000 units and a 12.5 percent decline on the multifamily side to 403,000 units.