Total housing starts are down 36 percent with single-family housing down 40 percent. There are, however, some glimmers of hope. MDU starts, however, are actually up 10 percent.

Sales of new homes were down 37 percent compared to May 2007, with the Northeast experiencing the worst drop (50 percent).

All of the housing, real estate and banking organizations surveyed are predicting a turnaround for 2009 of between 5 percent and 20 percent.

The data also reports areas like California and Florida are in the doldrums, but other parts of the country have actually increased in housing starts.

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