Dive summary:

• While there is plenty of speculation about the U.S. economy, tight lending and the so-called fiscal cliff, both housing starts and home completions were up from September to October, federal data show.
• Housing starts rose 3.6% month-to-month, reaching an annual rate of 894,000. That put them 29.8% above the year-before pace.
• Census Bureau data also showed that completed homes came in at an annual rate of 772,000 last month, which is 14.5% more than September's rate and 33.6% higher than where completions were 12 months earlier.

From the article:

Home construction appears to remain on a slight upward trajectory with housing starts in October hitting 894,000 units, up 3.6% from September's estimate of 863,000 starts, the U.S. Census Bureau said Tuesday. ...