1.

To determine how the number of housing starts is affected by mortgage rates an economist recorded the average mortgage rate and the number of housing starts in a large county for the past 10 years. These data are listed here.

Rate Starts

8.5 115

7.8 111

7.6 185

7.5 201

8 206

8.4 167

8.8 155

8.9 117

8.5 133

8 150

a. Determine the regression line.

b. What do the coefficients of the regression line tell you about the relationship between mortgage rates and housing starts?