Dive Brief:
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Economists called housing “the biggest disappointment for the economy” this year, according to a Wall Street Journal survey.
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The basis for that foundation was a lower-than-expected number of housing starts, economists told the newspaper. Although they had predicted a 20% increase in housing starts over last year—to 1.11 million—housing starts this year totaled 1.05 million.
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Still, the economists in the survey predicted better news for next year, based on forecasts for a growing job market and rising wages, which they said will spur home buying. They predicted 1.22 million housing starts for 2015.
Dive Insight:
In fact, predictions for a better year for the housing industry are coming in every week from economists industry-wide who agree that continued job creation, coupled with more accessibility to home loans, will move more renters to become homeowners and therefore pick up construction activity.