US housing starts rose 3.3 per cent

Construction of new homes increased 3.3 percent in November - with the gain largely coming from single-family houses being built at the strongest pace in more than a decade. The Commerce Department says builders broke ground on homes last month at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.3 million units. The increase marks a key moment in the recovery from the Great Recession: Builders started work on single-family houses at the fastest pace since September 2007, which was just a few months before the start of that economic downturn. Single-family house construction has risen 8.7 percent so far this year. Meanwhile, ground breakings for multi-family buildings such as apartment complexes have declined 8.5 percent year-to-date.