_Getting Graphic is a semi-sort-of-irregular collection of our favorite BIG real estate-related chart(s)._

[Click here for the full chart [NYT]](http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/05/19/business/20060520_CHARTS_GRAPHIC.html)

In Floyd Norris’ When Is a Housing Boom Not Such a Boom? [NYT] he looks more closely at new housing starts and finds some interesting trends. He doesn’t really conclude to anything specific but makes a lot of good observations.

* The National Association of Home Builders reported this week that its monthly survey showed more pessimism than at any time since 1995.

* The government’s seasonally-adjusted stats are distorted by the weather and therefore have limited reliability.

* The 2001 recession hurt multi-family housing, not single-family housing.

* The boom reflected a decline in multi-family construction and rising single-family construction (except in the Northeast).

* The strongest growth in single-family homes was in the South and West.

>So all that pessimism may yet prove to be false…But if the housing boom is finally nearing an end, it is clear from the accompanying charts, showing regional activity in both apartment and single-family home construction, that it was an unusual boom.