US 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.