The housing market is a key component of the economy. It will be a large factor influencing the strength of the recovery once the economy is finally unlocked. There should be a good deal of pent up demand from the now-paused spring buying season that could help spur a sharper bounce back.
Prior to the Great Pause, the housing market was hard to gauge. As the table shows, some key indicators were negative (in red) while others were positive (green). The market was probably fairly strong, considering that building permits and new home sales saw strong growth in January before falling back a bit in February.
These indicators will undoubtedly fall while the economy is paused. But they will be key data points to follow once the recovery begins.
—Curtis Dubay, Senior Economist, U.S. Chamber of Commerce