The total level of starts is still lower than at any time before the recession, and in the fourth quarter of last year, the residential construction industry accounted for only 2.6% of the total gross domestic product. That figure was up from the low, reached in mid-2009, of just 2.2%, but it was far below the 6.3% reached in late 2005, when the housing bubble was at its peak, reports The New York Times.