Home builders hammered by growing demand upped production of new homes to 2.02 million in October, an increase of 2.2 percent from a year ago, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Single-family new-home starts represented 1.64 million of the total which also includes multi-family starts and manufactured homes.

Meanwhile, sellers were snatching up single-family homes at the rate of 1.2 million a month in September, an increase of 7 percent from a year ago and the third highest monthly rate ever.

New-home starts increased in all four regions including a whopping 20 percent in the Northeast, 8.6 percent in the Midwest, 5 percent in the West, and 4 percent in the South.

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department Secretary Alphonso Jackson said new-home building and selling remained strong because home ownership, more than just a roof over head, is "The key to wealth for most families."

Mortgage Rates Defy Forecasts

Experts last year predicted rates would be hovering around 7 percent by now, but for most of 2004 they've remained at or below 6 percent. The week ending November 26, fixed interest rates on 30-year conforming loans slipped to 5.72 percent, down from 5.74 percent the week before, according to Freddie Mac's Weekly Mortgage Market Survey.

With the current rate on a $250,000 mortgage, the monthly principal and interest payment would be $1,454.17, a savings of almost $2,000 a year for the forecast, but unrealized rate of a percentage point more.

Overlooked Homeowner Insurance Tips

Courtesy of ConsumerReports.Org, Institute for Business and Home Safety and the Insurance Information Institute, here are several homeowner insurance tips you may have overlooked.

• Location is key. Expect to pay more for insurance if you buy in a high-risk flood zone, hurricane-prone area, near a beach or along a river. Some urban homes cost more to insure than suburban ones.

• Get coverage before closing. Consider adding an insurance contingency clause to your purchase contract in case the claims report turns up a negative history or insuring the house ends up costing too much.

• Make your dog happy. Buy a house near a fire hydrant in a community served by a full-time professional fire department and you will pay less than people in other areas.

• Buy a bulked-up home. Look for disaster-resistant features such as brick construction in hurricane regions or frames bolted to the foundation in earthquake-prone areas.

Home Sweet Doll House

Wondering what to get that checked-twice-and-found-to-be-very-good special kid? How about his or her own home? Not one they can play in. One they can play with.

Here's a peak inside several of this year's model homes from North Pole Prefab.

For kids who want a sturdy, traditional home, Constructive Playthings' open, airy, and easy to access three-story, hardwood "Deluxe Dream-House" ($159.99) comes with five fully-furnished rooms including a master suite, kid's attic, living room and eat-in kitchen with all the latest appliances. Movable furnishings and structures allow for lots of redecorating and remodeling. Accommodations are perfect for families of four -- $24.99 extra.

"Waterside Way" at The Dolls House Emporium is infill investment property at its best. For $500 you get multifamily, wharfside housing in a faux brick tri-plex of stacked apartment flats, each with a spiral staircase exterior entryway and French doors that open to a balcony or patio. Let your tenants decide how to break up the open floor plan with the self-contained shower room, kitchen island unit and room divider/storage wall.

If those homes are too rich for your blood, try MGA Entertainment's "Bratz Wintertime Wonderland Chill Out Ski Lodge" for a cool $60. Fully furnished, the two-story, one-bedroom A-frame comes with a bubbling Jacuzzi, wood burning stove and fondue pot. A resort area bargain, the home comes with its own snow-making machine and ski-lift direct to the slopes. Sweet.

Keep in mind, just like the real thing, these homes all come with some assembly required.

Published: November 30, 2004

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.