Declines in private housing production during periods of credit restraint have been widely publicized in the United States. Four such downturns have been recorded in the past decade and a half--in 1955-57, 1959-60, 1965-66, and 1969-70. A variety of measures have been adopted or recommended during recent years in an effort to lessen the disproportionately heavy impact of credit restraint on the private housing sector. Other measures have been offered to minimize the need for, or reliance on, credit restraint. Credit-affected downturns in private housing starts or residential building permits, however, are far from endemic to the United States alone. They have taken place since the mid-1950's in Canada and certain West European countries as well. Canada has recorded four cases; Belgium and Switzerland each has had three, Germany and Great Britain two each, and Italy one. In most if not all of these cases, private residential construction has been affected more severely by credit restraint than other major branches of the economy. Omitted from discussion are still other cases, as in Sweden and France, where the scope of public involvement in the housing sector has minimized the analytical significance of "private" housing production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]