Fig. [ ]. Source: NBER Macrohistory Database.
It is clear from the chart that total construction spending had a
general tendency to start to decline rapidly between September and
November and reach a trough in January or February of the following
year. However, the decline that started in October 1928 stands out as
the most rapid prior to 1929.
The hypothesis that the acceleration of decline in residential
construction was caused by the satiation of the market has an indirect
confirmation in the dynamics of new automobile registrations illustrated
in the graph below. The freed-up money that would have been spent on
buying new housing may have instead been partly reallocated towards
purchasing automobiles. [ADD INFO ON AUTOMOBILE PRICES RELATIVE TO
HOUSING]