Housing to save the recovery from the sequester?

Here's a dose of optimism: "The sequester will not derail the recovery..." according Nigel Gault, chief US economist for IHS Global Insight. He adds that it does likely slow it down some, however, especially here in the Washington, D.C., region. "The private-sector news on the economy continues to be good, and we would be upgrading our forecast of 2013 growth slightly were it not for the federal spending sequester that began on March 1."

And experts are pointing to the rebound in residential housing as what's fueling the growing confidence in the recovery. "Lights are burning longer in real estate offices. New housing construction sites are popping up across the country," writes Laurent Belsie, staff writer for the Christian Science Monitor. That activity helps in two ways, Belsie adds:

More home building translates directly into more jobs for construction workers and more sales of everything from lumber to electrical supplies and pickup trucks. Indirectly, rising housing prices mean that people feel richer because their homes are worth more. And if they think the rise is permanent, they begin to spend more.

The latest job numbers from the U.S. Department of Labor shows that economy added 236,000 jobs in February, the second best report in the past year. As Belsie points out, that means we've regained two-thirds of the jobs lost in the Great Recession. "One of the biggest gainers was construction, which added 48,000 jobs, the biggest jump in nearly six years." And along those lines, The Motley Fool's Matt DiLallo quotes Warren Buffett, the so-called Sage of Omaha, "We will come back big time on employment when residential construction comes back. You will be surprised, in my view, how fast employment changes when that happens."

Now, if the politicians would only reach a deal to end the sequester we'd really be cooking with gas.
 
Call me, Mynor Herrera, for expert advice on everything real estate. I am licensed in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, and I specialize in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, as well as the subdivisions of Rosemary Hills, Rock Creek Forest, East Bethesda and Whitehall Condominium.