According to the International Business Times, the U.S. housing sector’s rebound is not lifting the economy the same way it might have in the past.
“While homeowners are accessing their equity at higher levels than last year, the numbers are still low -- and thus not offering the same boost to the economy as such home equity numbers might have once done,” the article says.
Moreover, consumer spending is still much less than what it was before the housing crisis. Data from Moody’s Analytics show that every $1 increase in home equity in the fourth quarter of 2014 resulted in about two cents of extra consumer spending, a third of what it was before the housing crisis.
“Consumers are definitely more conservative financially than they were 10 years ago. They’ve seen that house prices can be volatile,” Fannie Mae chief economist Doug Duncan told the Wall Street Journal.