While the headline number was bleak, private residential projects offered solid gains in January.
Feelings about the economy improved in February as perceptions of the job market and wages edged up.
As last year drew to a close, the national median asking rent hit the highest level seen in decades.
Starts, however, did poorly, led by a significant drop in single-family.
Buried beneath the Kansas prairie, condos prepared to withstand nuclear attack are selling like hot cakes.