Reply #83: Not necessarily bad, but not necessarily good.

[girl gone mad]

As I noted in a post above, the increase was only seen in sales of existing homes, which has very little impact on the economy. New home sales are what drive job creation.

Insofar as inventory is being reduced, it could be a positive. Insofar as it is pushing renters to own, it is probably a net negative. This will put more pressure on rents, leading to further deflation and more commercial defaults. Long term, it puts even more pressure on house prices.

People were concerned that the tax credit would expire. That, and low interest rates, have temporarily pulled forward demand. We will see how things turn out with the expanded credit, shadow inventory, expected rate increases, etc.