diana olick is on that story. diana, what happened to all the construction workers that were out of work a couple years ago? where did they go? >> reporter: well, about 2 million of them, believe it or not, left the workforce during the housing crash. this is residential and non-residential construction. because this crash has gone on for going on five years now, a lot of those workers were retrained in other careers and are actually not coming back to home building. that's why the builders are saying they need skilled workers. skilled workers like these students here at the potomac job corps who are learning the trade quickly because there's finally demand for them. >> do you see a number of employers in this space doing the training for these people themselves? >> there are places. they've said that in just the past two weeks they have have had calls from builders around the d.c. area, northern virginia. we've spoken to builders in texas who say they're also looking for skilled workers. that demand is great for t

diana olick also with us. david, why are you concerned about this desire for more home right now? home and bigger homes. >> i'm thinking of the george santiana. the spanish philosopher who says what we fail to learn from history, we're doomed to repeat. it amazes me this group is already out looking to buy a bigger home. if they have good job, good employment security and they're getting kids and need large rooms, i get it. but i would be cautious right at this particular time to be moving up too quickly. let's wait. give it a quarter. least see where this thing goes after the big proverbial fiscal cliff issue and see how we deal with that. >> should it be a concern for buying a bigger house or more people living in know house and they're not flipping it. i mean, the surroundings, the environment. the landscape is different today. >> right. we're talking about multigenerational living. having your parents move in with you, not just your kids. or having empty nesters. and that's part of the economy. and part of the jobs picture also. we have a lot of baby boomers who lost a lot of

brian moynihan spoke exclusively with diana olick. she joins us from washington with more on that big interview. high, diana. >> hey, sue. that's right. the c of bank of america says he does not believe everyone should own a home, that's what he told a panel at the brookings institute today. as the economy and housing recovery face the possibility of going over the fiscal cliff, brian moynihan told me going back to the summer of last year that businesses like his were already affected by the fiscal cliff and they have acted less aggressively as such. as for consumers, however, he does not believe that the mortgage interest deduction will fall victim to the cliff, at least not yet. >> i don't know if it's on the table or not. i think from person -- from general consumers you'd rather have that come up as a discussion of what to do long term to change the way, broaden the base, change deductions, things like that. >> and he told me that he just doesn't think lawmakers want to change the mortgage interest deduction now given how tenuous

don't buy homes based on the cost of the house but rather what they can afford every month, and diana olick that part of the story for you from washington. diana? >> reporter: that's right. it's amazing how fast this stuff can turn. barely a few hours after the mortgage bankers reported a new record low on the 30-year fixed chairman bernanke's new deadline for qe spooks the bond market and mortgage rates right along with it. it's impossible to say day to day exactly where rates are because while they rely on the price of mortgage-backed securities they rely on lender whimsy, competition which dan green of waterstone mortgage says. he notes rates have trended higher in march of each of the last three years. now, you could argue that record low rates we have now are really not doing much for the housing recovery as the volume you see here is largely refis and a historically high one-third of all home purchases today are all cash. diane swonk says any impact on mortgage rates from bernanke yesterday will be temporary. we can see that already, but greater threat to rates is the inability to com

. >>> i'm diana olick with your >> i'm alyssa rayburger. senator daniel arrest complicationings.s the longest serving senator. he was 788 years old. south carolina governor has reported congressman tim scott to the senator jim demint who will be sworn in election month. gas prices dropped four cents over the weekend, following 3.25 a gallon on average. back to "hardball." >>> we're back. in the wake of the friday horrific massacre up in connecticut, a number of gun rights advocates have argued that the problem isn't that there are too many semiautomatic weapons in society. the problem, they say, is that there weren't enough armed people on site to challenge the killer. here is what larry pratt, the executive director of gun owners of america, wrote this morning in "usa today." in addition to the gunman, blood is on the hands of members of congress and the connecticut legislators who voted to ban guns from all schools in connecticut and most other states. they are the ones who made it illegal to defend oneself with a gun in a school when that is the only effective way of resisting

. >>> i'm diana olick with your cnbc market wrap. fiscal cliff optimism lifts stocks. dow jumps 100 points, the s&p adds 16 and the nasdaq gains 39. apple sold 2 million i-phone 5s. aig could raise $6.5 billion from its sale of its stake. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. now back to "hardball." >>> we're back. in the wake of the friday horrific massacre up in connecticut, a number of gun rights advocates have argued that the problem isn't that there are too many semiautomatic weapons in society, the problem they say is that there weren't enough armed people on site to challenge the killer. here is what lar yir pratt, the executive director of gun owners of america wrote this morning in usa today. in i had to the gunman, blood is on the hands of members of congress and the connecticut legislators who voted to ban guns from all schools in connecticut and most other states. they are the ones who made it illegal to defend oneself with a gun in a school when that is the only effective way of resisting a gunman. is he right? larry patriot joins us right now.

diana olick has it all for us from washington. >> tyler, numbers are coming down.this case that's a good thing. 58,000 completed foreclosures in october according to core logic, down 25% from september which did see a big upward revision but still we're down 17% from a year ago. although we're still running at three times the historical norms. got to keep it real, people. anyway, california, florida, michigan, georgia and texas made up half of the foreclosures. the rest are new york, new jersey, illinois and nevada. four out of five are judicial states where you need a judge to sign off on each foreclosure. nevada seeing a big slowdown due to new laws there protecting borrowers. expect to see more of a drop in foreclosures in the coming months. both fannie mae and freddie mac announcing their usual foreclosure moratorium for the holidays. most banks halt foreclosures for 90 days in new york and new jersey. clear capital will release a report tomorrow showing home price gains weakening rather dramatically in november and they're warning all bets are off on housing i

diana olick is in washington with more on that. diana? >> that's right, carl.py to say the least. the problem is they need really skilled workers and that's why the students are feeling new power in the power tools. why? because from here to texas all they're hearing from builders is we need workers like you. >> about two weeks ago we started getting calls like maybe seven or eight a day and we were asked to bring students to work sites. >> a far cry from a few months ago when linda was begging homebuilders to hire sfrunlts the job corps program. >> there was nothing going on. >> now they're in high demand and they know it. >> there's a resurgence in construction, so i know this is the place to be. >> housing starts climb to an annualized rate after falling to a low of just around half a million in 2009 when the industry and the trade were decimated. >> over 2 million workers left the construction industry, and most of those are not coming back, so we have a great need to have skilled workers. >> with instructors from the nonprofit home building institute these

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back to you. >> thank you, diana olick.e builders doing nicely in today's session, up by a percent or more. let's bring in eamon javers in d.c. >> here's what we know as of right now. the speaker said to his conference behind closed doors now, his fellow republicans, that he's going to move on a send track, kind of a plan b here in case these negotiations for a big deal don't bear fruit with the president. boehner does not like the new offer on the table. we do know that house gop leadership aides are telling me that this plan would extend the bush tax cuts for everybody who makes less than $1 million per year. so that is a much higher number than what the president proposed himself. the speaker saying he's got to move forward on a plan b, because the looming deadline is getting so close, he needs to have something he can put into place in case they get there without this big deal, melissa. >> eamon javers, thank you. markets slightly higher on signs of cliff progress. still waiting for house speaker boehner's comments on t

>> thank you very much, diana olick. note that the home builder stocks made a little bit of a turn around on those numbers. get reaction to those better-than-expected existing home sales numbers. bob pisani joins us now with the man who runs the big pest real estate firm in the united states. >> rich and smith. thanks very much. chairman, president and ceo of realology. thanks for joining us. you are in your headquarters in parsippany, new jersey. must be a happy man. good numbers here. sales highest since november 2009. price is up. your reaction? >> bob, these are very good numbers. again, a clear indication that we are in the early stage of a housing recovery. they are very, very strong numbers. >> particular lynn ceased with the increases home but study home price. still something like 10 million homes under water, they have more on the mortgage than the home is worth, but this has got to be very helpful. eventually the 10 million homes come down, continue to see the price increases. is that correct? >> that's correc

here's diana olick with the outlook for real estate in 2013. >> the housing market will continue on the, barring any unforeseen economic disasters. that's not a prediction, that's a fact. as the jobs picture slowly brightens households formation is expected to grow off its lows and that's good news for both the home builders and for investors in the rental market. housing starts, which will end in the 800,000 range this year, should top the 1 million mark in 2013, as big builders continue to see a jump in new orders, and investors continue to compete for distressed homes that used to be the builders competition. and speaking of distress, fewer loans will become newly delinquent in 2013. but the 5 million already delinquent loans will head to foreclosure at an even faster pace as states requiring a judge in the process finally put their collective feet on the gas. and home prices, the key to recovery, should also continue their gains. 2013 could bring annual appreciation nationwide of 3% to 5%. but price recovery will vary widely market to market. there are, of course, still many unknown