By Alex Kowalski – Feb 1, 2012 8:00 AM MT Construction spending in the U.S. rose in December at the fastest pace in four months, reflecting broad- based gains that signal the industry is stabilizing. Building outlays increased 1.5 percent, the biggest gain since August, Commerce

The nation’s housing market continued to struggle during the first quarter of 2011, with home prices falling in 18 of the large metro areas tracked by Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city index. That pushed national home prices back to their mid-2002 levels. But whil