Housing Starts Rise to Five-Month High in Broad Increase

New residential construction in the US rose to a five-month high in December, as homebuilders boosted production to take advantage of lower borrowing costs. Housing starts increased 6.2% to an annual pace of 1.4 million homes in December, according to figures released Wednesday by the government, which were delayed by fall’s federal shutdown. That beat all estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The advance was broad-based, with both single-family home starts and apartment projects rising at year’s end. The number of one-family homes started was the highest since February. Kamini Lane, President and CEO of Coldwell Banker Realty, joins Bloomberg Businessweek Daily to discuss. Lane also weighs in on this week's mortgage rate data, the current real estate market in cities like Los Angeles, and more. She speaks with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec. (Source: Bloomberg)