Dive Brief:

• The CEO of big builder Lennar predicted last week that the harsh winter will thaw into robust spring home sales, but the housing recovery's incline will remain slow.

• “It looks like there’s a lot of runway ahead of us,” Stuart Miller said on CNBC’s Squawk Box. He pointed to a lack of inventory that has resulted in slower production over a number of years.

• He also said the expected interest rate increase might slow housing activity—and hit stock prices among big builders—but only temporarily. “The reality is that a Fed rate hike is likely to reflect an improvement in the employment market,” and that could mean consumers will have more money to buy homes.

Dive Insight:

Lennar’s stock took a slight hit last week, but the company has projected short- and long-term growth in sales and profits, as have many of the publicly traded big builders.