U.S. housing market recession worsens as existing home sales, building permits plummet

The recession in the U.S. housing market worsened last month.

Existing home sales plummeted 7.7 percent in November to 4.09 million units. This was down from -5.9 percent in October and worse than the market forecast of -5.4 percent It was the worst level since May 020.

This comes after building permits plunged 11.2% in November to 1.342 million units, while housing starts dropped 0.5 percent to 1.427 million units.

But has the real estate market bottomed?

Recent data suggested that demand is picking up, with mortgage applications jumping 0.9 percent for the week ending Dec. 16, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). This comes as the 30-year mortgage rate eased to 6.34 percent in the same week.