August 28, 2007 (LPAC)--The CEO of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said that his organization had been pushed into an "aggressive mobilization" demanding drastic interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve among other measures, because the American housing market has "gotten dramatically worse" during July and August.

In a national conference call, Jerry Howard, whose members construct 85% of new homes in the United States, said the NAHB "does not have a policy yet" on actions to freeze or stop foreclosures nationwide, but will be discussing it at a meeting of its board next week.

Howard said that 62% of NAHB member firms surveyed had reported that their business is being hit by the global credit crunch; and of those affected, the average rate of sales decline they had experienced in the past three months, is 62%! He added that half of all home builders are reporting that home closings are being cancelled or delayed because bank lenders, at the last moment, fail to provide the mortgage financing they had pre-approved.

NAHB chief economist David Seiders gave some of the declines in new housing activity since the "peak" of the bubble in mid-2005: prices will have fallen 10% by the beginning of 2008; sales, by 38%; housing starts, by 43% by early 2008.