Construction of new homes tumbled in November, the U.S. Commerce Department reported today.

New construction of homes and apartments dropped by 3.7% last month, led by a 5.5% drop in single-family home construction. It’s the weakest annual rate since April 1991.

The U.S. government said home building activity is more than 24% below the same period last year.

The outlook for the home construction sector does not appear to be bright.

Applications for building permits fell in November for a sixth consecutive month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.15 million units. That is the lowest level since June 1993.

The U.S. housing market has been hurting from weak sales and prices, and from rising defaults and foreclosures stemming from the subprime mortgage sector.

The housing weakness has led economists to curtail their outlook for growth in the U.S. economy this quarter to about 1% or less. Many are questioning whether the U.S. will be able to avoid recession in early 2008.

Meanwhile, the U.S. he Federal Reserve is set to consider a plan that would curb the types of subprime products lenders can offer, prohibit certain misleading disclosures, and limit the compensation of mortgage brokers.

It also would ban brokers or creditors from coercing or influencing home appraisers to misrepresent the value of a home and would prohibit certain practices from loan servicers, such as failing to promptly credit payments to customers’ accounts.