WASHINGTON — The government said new-home construction plunged to an all-time low in December, capping the worst year for builders on records dating back to 1959.

The Commerce Department reported this morning construction of new homes and apartments fell 15.5 percent to an annual rate of 550,000 units last month from November.

It was a much weaker showing than the pace of 610,000 that economists were forecasting and ended 2008 on a dismal note.

For all of last year, the number of housing units that builders broke ground on totaled just more than 904,000, also a record low. That marked a huge 33.3 percent drop from the 1.355 million housing units started in 2007.

By The Associated Press