(New York)

If one thing is really clear in the economy, it is that the housing sector’s momentum is clearly negative. Home sales slumped badly in November and then worse in December. Further, home buying traffic plunged too. This is not necessarily a surprise when you consider how much mortgage rates have risen, but contrasted with how well the labor market is doing, it is quite eye-opening.

FINSUM: We are going to come in with a contrarian viewpoint here. Consider these stats, all reported by Barron’s: “The median home value in December was $223,900, up 7.6% over the past year, according to real-estate listing service Zillow. That is up from about $150,000 in late 2011. Properties are sitting on the market an average of 78 days, down from 114 days in 2016. The mortgage delinquency rate is a low 1.1%, and just 8.2% of houses had negative equity—well below levels of a few years ago. The foreclosure rate has plunged to 1.2%, down from 6.3% in 2009”. That shows a very different picture!