This post is dedicated to Karl Smith:
Sales of newly built single-family homes rose to their highest level in more than two years last month, adding to evidence that the U.S. housing market is on the mend and no longer dragging down the broader national recovery.
…”This is the first time I have heard any kind of pulse in the home building business in the last five years, and I think it is legitimate,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist for PNC Financial Services Group. “The housing market will be a source of strength to the economy for the first time in years.”
Karl has been trying to figure out for a while why his prediction of a resurgent housing market turned out to be incorrect, but perhaps he was only off on the timing a bit. I’m still on the fence about his theory that pent-up demand for housing will drive economic recovery, but this is a data point in its favor.