Builders Show Reveals Hard Times of Housing Market

LAS VEGAS -- I've been going to the National Association of Home Builders' big annual exposition since the days of sod houses.

OK, it just seems that long. The first time was in 1978.

And I've seen every kind of fancy refrigerator and European cabinet doodad you can imagine.

Prowling the huge exposition floor, you can find kitchen ranges as big as cars. And be sure to see the latest bathtubs, which include surround sound and "bubble massage."

But at this year's housing bash, a lot of the bling from a few years ago is gone, and the display area seems to have atrophied.

There are only about 500,000 square feet of exhibits this year -- less than half what the show offered when the housing boom was near its peak.

The most popular displays this week were the cooking demonstrations and a gambling match sponsored by Wells Fargo where people competed to win a little stuffed horse.

Hey, this is Vegas. They bet on anything here.

You can forgive the builders if they're not in the mood for their industry's annual party.

Not since the Great Depression has the industry taken such a beating as it has the last few years. Home starts in some markets have fallen 90 percent.

It will take more than a new color in countertops to cheer everyone up.

And even as home starts edge back up, there are enough obstacles to fill one of those big side-by-side fridges the manufacturers were showing off.

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