US housing starts climbed 3.8% in October

Low interest rates provide tailwind to consumers: Bank of America consumer banking head

Bank of America head of consumer banking Aron Levine discusses the state of consumers going into the holiday shopping season, the impact low-interest rates are having on the personal finances of Americans, and the risk of another mortgage crisis.

WASHINGTON — U.S. home building jumped 3.8 percent in October, a positive sign for the overall economy as developers anticipate steady demand.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that housing starts reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.31 million. Starts for single-family houses were up 2 percent, largely because of construction in the West and South. Construction of apartment buildings rose 6.8 percent from the prior month.

Lower mortgage rates and a healthy job market have aided the housing market in recent months, yet housing starts are still down 0.6 percent year-to-date as a shortage of land and high construction costs have limited building. Affordability is a problem for would-be buyers as increases in home prices have outstripped wage growth.

In this Monday, Feb. 26, 2018, photo, work continues on a new development in Fair Lawn, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

AUTO LOAN ORIGINATIONS NEAR RECORD HIGH, AS HOUSEHOLD DEBT SOARS

Building permits, a measure of future construction, rose 5 percent in October to 1.46 million.

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