Amid a recent spate of data showing the economy humming along smoothly, one sector has consistently stayed out of whack and it’s a big one: housing.
On Thursday, a report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed rising housing costs have helped core inflation run higher than the Federal Reserve’s target 2% annual rate. A drop-off in homebuilding in the third quarter was a drag on the economy’s overall growth rate, according to a report from the bureau on the Gross Domestic Product Wednesday. Earlier in the month, data showed homebuilding languished and sales of existing houses skidded to their lowest in more than a decade in September.
The beleaguered housing market is a stark contrast to other important pillars of the economy, which are running relatively smoothly: the job market is holding on to an extended winning streak, consumers are spending freely, and inflation is falling.
At the heart of the problem is the …