A new Jan. 17 report by CNBC showed that “U.S. home building surged to a 13-year high [16.9%] in December as activity increased across the board” [emphasis added]. Housing starts spiked 16.9 percent to a “seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.608 million units last month, the highest level since 2006,” [emphasis added] noted CNBC. This follows a trend, as recent economic reports showed consumer confidence at the highest levels in nearly 20 years. To put the housing situation into context, CNBC reported that “economists polled by Reuters had forecast housing starts would increase to a pace of 1.375 million units in December.” So their predictions were off by a whole 233,000 units.