bust without showing a lot of sign of life just yet. now, what s key to gdp are new housing starts. you build more houses, you get jobs, you get improvements in gross domestic product. and so here you can see that off of this bottom where we sat for quite a number of years, we ve now had a significant almost to a million new housing starts, well below the peak and the bubble. that s actually probably a good thing in some ways. but a very significant increase that has played a role in the economic recovery. the other thing that s played a role in the housing recovery are mortgage interest rates. and this, i m sure, is something that s of interest to lots of people who have houses. you can see, not surprisingly, that from 6.7% back at the peak of the housing market, this is a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is now 3.38%. that is about as low as we ve ever seen it. i think it s about as low as it s going to go. this is not a personal finance show, but if i were thinking of
steve s house of mortgages. you re not getting 3.38% from rattner, though. i want to be on that side of that trade. still ahead, nfl hall of famer super bowl champion john elway going to be right here with us. we re back in a moment. [ male announcer ] this is bob, a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat. the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don t think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin, and made a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but not anymore. bob s doctor recommended a different option: once-a-day xarelto®. xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner
3.38 for 1000 cubic feet. gregg: we are taking a dangerous winter storm blamed for nine death at this hour. that storm is slamming the northeast. this is video from worcester, massachusetts. this was actually this morning. you can see what folks are trying to deal with there. the storm hitting the middle of the country overnight. dumping more than a foot and a half of snow in some areas grounding flights up in the air, stranding travelers, leaving hundreds of thousands of folks without any power. anna kooiman is live in clark summit that is just north of scranton, pennsylvania, and what is it like there? reporter: gregg, i can tell you the storm is expected to dump a foot or two of show and all done in parts of the northeast. here in clarks summit, in northwest pennsylvania, we had to stop here last night pause the roads were simply getting too bad. there is it still four to eight inches of snow on the ground. this area is really causing
temperatures meaning americans are using less oil to heat their homes. all that pushes prices down further. prices also spiked after hurricane sandy and have fallen since, shepard. shepard: so right now they re headed down more, right? > reporter: that s right. there s a difference between lowest and highest of 80 cents a gallon. 3.85 in long island, in mems me, tennessee, it s less than 3.05. the average price of gas in the u.s. has fallen 10 cents in the past week, dipping 3.38 for a gallon of regular, expected to go lower. shepard: you can furnish your entire home at ikea if you want. if you re shopping at the right time, you can furnish your zoo. shoppers at an ikea in toronto spotted a monkey roaming the parking lot. this is so bizarre. why is there a monkey at ikea. i never expected to see that. i was pretty shocked.
dropped $0.10 over the past three weeks. that s what the average costs for a gallon of regular $3.38. they have the loews prices in the country over 3 bucks a gallon. drivers in long island new york playing highest prices at 3.85. for all of your headlines go to foxnews.com. now back to huckabee . death. now back to huckabee. detroit is broke. detroit is in big stroubl. officials are figuring out what is the largest fan ever to bankruptcy. we kickoff the quotes of the week. after the election of jimmy carter the honorable andrew young he went to washington, d.c. and came back with basics. that s what you do. that s what you do.