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ORLANDO-Striving hard to remain positive, David Seiders, chief, economist, National Association of Home Builders, predicts sales of new housing in the multifamily and single-family sectors are on their way up after hitting bottom at the end of 2006.

"Housing starts in 2007 will continue down for the first half of the year and then turn up for the last half," Seiders predicted Friday at the four-day International Builders Show. The Orange County Convention Center event, the largest in its 24-year history, has drawn 105,000 industry professionals from 90 countries to the non-public attraction which has focused on the growth of green building concepts.

Seiders cushioned his forecast by saying that even though he expects a mild turnaround in home sales this year, he is not looking for the market "to get back to where we were in 2004 and 2005 for a couple of years." The reason: the industry has overbuilt by about 400,000 homes over the last several years.