Good news for housing could mean bad news for home buyers. Those sitting on the fence waiting for prices and rates to drop are taking a pretty big risk. Interest rates are to low as it is to support this debt ridden economy and raising them could put a damper on the recovery. Know what "catch 22" means. It means we're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Many economists and analysts believe the economic recovery in this country rests on the shoulders of the housing market. Once the market begins to turn around, as we are seeing clear signs of, home prices and interest rates charged on loans to buy those homes will rise.
How much and how fast is anyone's guess, but in order to fuel a recovery and provide momentum, banks, builders and sellers have to start making money again.

There was a 3.6 percent increase in housing starts last month. The largest jump since 2004, according to Bloomberg. Builders are feeling confident and putting up homes again. "It seems clear that housing starts bottomed in the first quarter", says Mark Vinter of Wells Fargo.

A lot of that buying is do to Government incentives and tax breaks. When that ends....

Forecasters had predicted a fall in starts. Home starts are still down quite a bit from this time last year but the improvements are solid evidence buyers are creeping back into the market.

Others, of course, say we still have further to fall. If forecasting was easy, everyone would do it. The one sure thing is there will be a recovery, just no one really knows when. (except maybe Goldman Sachs)