Improving Employment To Give Housing a Boost

New York, NY, March 15, 2010--Some economists believe that the housing market will withstand the removal of government stimulus in April and will rebound later in the year, with the help of an improving job market and more available credit.

And, they believe, for first time housing will contribute to the growth in GDP, although the Fed is likely to raise interest rates sooner than later.

“I would bet even odds that we’re at a bottom and that we’re going to see improvement in the coming months,”  Karl Case, co-creator of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index and a professor of economics at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass., told Bloomberg News.

Homebuilders’ stock shares hit a five- month high March 9 on speculation the expanding economy will boost sales. The index has gained 14 percent this year.

Employment is key to the improving outlook, economists believe.

The U.S. may add as many as 300,000 jobs in March, the most in four years, thanks to an improvement in the weather, government hiring of temporary workers for the census and a growing economy.

Also, a net 13.2 percent of banks surveyed by the Fed in January reported that they tightened standards on prime mortgage loans in the fourth quarter, the smallest percentage since the central bank began tallying such data three years ago.