As the housing market completed its 11th consecutive quarterly decline and the residential slump extended into its 4th calendar year, the pace of the slide accelerated at the end of 2008. New housing starts fell 15.5% in December to 550,000 units. Single-family starts, off 14.2% in November, fell another 13.5% to 398,000 units in December. In the 50 years that these data have been compiled, December marked the lowest level of activity recorded. Additionally, the 64.8% annualized pace of decline in Q4 was the most rapid quarterly decline ever. The momentum of recent housing declines has increased in response to the overall economic weakness inherent in the steep recession. Finally, single-family starts in December were off 48.9% from a year earlier, the largest year-over-year decline of the current collapse.