Builders took out permits for the construction of 530 single-family homes locally last month, down from 1,186 in October 2006, according to Construction Monitor, which tracks building activity throughout the West.

The last time residential building activity along the Wasatch Front was this low was October 1990, when builders pulled 473 permits for new single-family housing units.

The drop is especially steep when the state's population is taken into account. In 1990, the state's count was 1.7 million people; today the total is estimated at nearly 2.7 million.

Nationally, construction of single-family homes fell to the lowest level since October 1991, the Commerce Department reported.

Nationally and in Utah, sales of single-family homes are down compared with last year. The residential downturn started more than a year or two ago in most cities; the Wasatch Front's market didn't begin to noticeably lose steam until early this summer.

The downturn in Utah and other markets is being fueled in great part to tighter lending standards put in place over the summer after the meltdown nationally in subprime lending, or loans made to the riskiest borrowers.

-- Tribune news services also contributed to this story