Home construction sees a little sunshine

Connecticut home building got both good news and bad news today. The bad news, according to the state Department of Economic and Community Development, is that this year is shaping up as the worst for new home construction in the past five years. Figures released today show that, for the first seven months of the year, the state is running nearly 14 percent behind 2006 numbers. The good news is that permits in the month of July actually topped their performance in that month last year, 711 compared to 618. April was the only other month so far this year to do better than its namesake in 2006.