WASHINGTON - The budding American economic recovery is getting little help from the home building industry, which normally creates jobs and boosts growth as a recession ends.
Construction of homes unexpectedly plunged last month to its lowest point since April, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The weak figures show that builders still lack confidence that buyers can soak up the glut of unsold homes already on the market - a supply magnified by a record number of home foreclosures.
The figures also illustrate how much the fledgling recovery depends on government support. Builders broke ground on fewer homes in part because of uncertainty in October about whether Congress would extend a tax credit for homebuyers. Earlier this month, lawmakers renewed the credit and extended it to more buyers.
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