CLARKONOMICS: Home construction in December is at the lowest level it's ever been since stats started being kept in 1959. Only 500,000 housing units were built in the entire country during last month, according to new figures from the Commerce Department.

The home construction industry is in a depression -- and that's not a word to be used lightly. But Clark believes this is actually a good sign overall.

Our current real estate slump is partly related to a vast oversupply of houses. We have anywhere from a minimum of 2 million to a maximum of 10 million too many homes for our population. The level of construction was artificial and the high cost of housing was inflated by speculative buyers.

So this latest drop in housing construction is actually a good thing. It slows the runaway growth of extra housing and is part of the correction process for the housing bubble.

One last word of advice: Be realistic about your pricing if you're looking to sell your house this spring. Hire an inspector to vet your home; fix whatever they take issue with; and then make the inspection report available to potential buyers.