In a report for ˜housing starts' released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday, numbers showed that new construction of residential property hit a record low last month, indicating that a housing recovery might not be in the works as some economists were hoping.

Housing starts, which are the actual breaking of ground of new construction, fell 12.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted 458,000 annualized units.

˜Building permit' numbers, which were also released on Tuesday, which represent new units authorized to be built, fell 3.3 percent to a record low seasonally adjusted annual rate of 494,000 units in April.

On a somewhat brighter note; yesterday, the National Association of Homebuilders said builder confidence for single-family homes improved for the second consecutive month to the highest level since September.