A government report on new-home construction and building permit applications for April is forecast to show further declines as the housing sector continues to sag.
The Commerce Department report, due Friday at 8:30 a.m. EDT, is expected to show construction of new homes and apartments fell to an annual rate of 940,000 units in April, according to the consensus estimate of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR.
If the forecast is correct, it would be a drop of 0.7 percent from a rate of 947,000 units a month earlier, the slowest pace in 17 years.
Applications for building permits, considered a reliable sign of future activity, are projected to fall to an annual rate of 915,000 units, down 1.3 percent from a rate of 927,000 units in March, according to Thomson/IFR.
More dour housing news came Thursday, as the National Association of Home Builders' housing market index came in just shy of its record low.
The May index, which tracks builders' sentiment about market conditions, came in at 19, one point above the record low set in December.
Tighter lending standards, rising defaults and fear about the housing market's future have sidelined buyers, an absence felt acutely by homebuilders such as D.R. Horton Inc., Pulte Homes Inc. and Centex Corp.
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