Housing slump felt in Rock County

By STEVE BENTON ( Contact ) Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008

Podcast Episode

WCLO's Steve Benton reports a national housing slump hits Rock County

ROCK COUNTY — Local housing starts are down, but not as bad as a national trend suggests.

A report Tuesday from the U-S Commerce Department indicated construction of homes and apartments in July had fallen to the lowest level since 1991.

Spokesperson for the South Central Builders Association of Rock County, Carol Engebretson, agrees. But she also says many of the local builders have adapted to the business environment, and can weather slumps.

Engebretson also says the midwest tends to be sheltered from the severe ups and downs of the market.

While the national report was bad, it wasn't quite as bad as predicted. Analysts expected starts to be down around 950,000 in July, but they were actually about 15,000 higher than that.

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