Two years after the end of the last recession, residential investment was flat. Now, experts anticipate the housing market's slow recovery will speed up next year.
Looking forward to 2018's housing market, CNBC posits that productivity in the construction labor force is a larger issue than the labor shortage, and will be strengthened by increasing wage growth. On the consumer side, mortgage credit is tight, but at the margin, is expanding. According to the Federal Reserve’s Senior Loan Officer Survey, a net percent of banks has been easing lending standards on residential mortgage loans for 14 consecutive quarters.
Consumer attitudes are strong, supporting housing demand. It helps that general economic conditions have improved. According to the latest University of Michigan Survey, more people say now is a good time to buy a home because of “prosperous times.” This is a notable difference from the bubble period of 2005-06 and suggests a recovery built on firmer ground.
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