US housing starts fall, 2011 a bad building year The Commerce Department says builders started just 606,900 homes in 2011. That's up slightly from 587,000 in 2010 and 554,000 in 2009 - the worst year on records dating back 50 years. In a healthy market, economists say, about 1.2 million homes are started each year. Last year was the worst on records dating back a half-century for single-family home construction, which accounts for roughly 70 percent of the market.