Dive summary:

• The Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller Index of home prices in 20 metro areas in the U.S. was 10.9% higher in March than it was 12 months earlier, and the index has not seen that large an increase in year-over-year numbers since April 2006.
• As the news about housing-price recovery was coming out, the Conference Board said that its monthly Consumer Confidence Index for May had a jump, too, reaching 76.2, which is a level unseen since February 2008, when it was 76.4.
• Economists attributed the Case-Shiller progress to more consumers starting to buy houses if they can get financing, the housing inventory shrinking because development and building are not where they were before stalling in the recession, and foreclosure sales that depress housing prices are fewer.

From the article:

The positive impact of rising home values and the appreciating stock market is expected to offset “at least a third of the fiscal tightening,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomic Advisors. ...