Housing starts in U.S. climb 8.9 percent to 574,000 pace

Builders in November broke ground on more U.S. homes, a sign the recovery in homebuilding may carry through into 2010.

Housing starts rose 8.9 percent to an annual rate of 574,000, the Commerce Department said today [Dec. 16]in Washington. Building permits, a sign of future construction, climbed to the highest level in a year.

Government tax credits, lower home prices and borrowing costs near record lows may boost sales and construction in coming months. Federal Reserve policy makers today are forecast to reiterate a pledge to keep rates low for “an extended period” to sustain the recovery and lower a jobless rate that economists project will average 10 percent in 2010, according to a Dec. 16 Bloomberg report.

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