For these reasons, home sales are both a barometer of existing economic conditions and of things to come. And so it behooves us to know if we should add its April declines to the list of woes. The homeownership rate now is just a tad under 70 percent, probably the highest ever. The upper limit is unknown, but we do know many people prefer renting, and that you can't push ownership forever higher. Home building and sales, the latter for both existing and new homes, have been running at record or near-record highs for the past few years, despite the economic slowdown.
Any decline is from a very high level.
Moreover, the broad economy may still be feeling the slowdown effects of last year's interest rate increases, and not yet reflecting the more recent cuts in borrowing rates. Don't add housing too quickly to the list woes. There's enough of them. The slowdown in April might even help provoke the Federal Reserve into lowering interest rates again. The Brainerd Daily Dispatch, Central Minnesota's Daily Newspaper.