Biz: Housing market, meet crapper: The market takes a huge hit
- 17.2% dip in new home builds between April and May
- 10% dip in future home construction contracts source
- » What the heck happened? Simply put, home sales were artificially inflated by an $8,000 homebuyer tax credit. As soon as the tax credit went away, the bottom completely fell out. In some areas of the country, home sales are down 20 percent from May 2009, when the worst of the financial crisis had ended.