The recent report on sluggish employment growth is likely among the most important factors. As The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, October 23rd, there are 90 million people over the age of 16 who are unemployed. Wrap your heads around that one. There are formally 11 million unemployed. If counted as it used to be, the unemployment rate would be in double digits.
Until employment again grows, housing sales will level off. We are already back to the level of the “5 percent” rule that we use to measure normal housing sales. If not for investors and sales to foreign households, housing would still be suffering from a head cold.
So watch employment and household income numbers for a true picture of the market for the next year.
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