Housing Slump Ends In 2 Months

In an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, Bank of America’s Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis said the U.S. economy will pick up speed due to a recovery in the housing sector. Lewis predicted, “You’ll see the economy begin to pick up in the third and fourth quarters,” and the slowdown in home sales is “just about to be over.” He went on to say that the housing market will begin to improve in the next month or two, forestalling a recession, according to Bloomberg. Lewis believes that job growth will lift home prices and reinvigorate construction by early 2008.

However, as Bloomberg pointed out, Mr. Lewis’ views contradict those of other market watchers, including money manager Paul McCulley of Pimco. At a Bloomberg News panel discussion on Tuesday, McCulley insisted that, “The housing-market recession ain’t over… It’s going to be a long, protracted recession.” Some are willing to go farther than that. Mark Kiesel, executive vice president of California-based Pacific Investment Management, said in Bloomberg yesterday, “It’s a blood bath…We’re talking about a two- to three-year downturn that will take a whole host of characters with it, from job creation to consumer confidence. Eventually it will take the stock market and corporate profit.” Nouriel Roubini, a former Treasury Department director under the Clinton administration and head of Roubini Global Economics in New York, added, “It’s not just a housing recession anymore, it looks more and more like an economic recession.” Roubini believes the chance of a recession in 2007 is at “50-50,” greater than the 33% chance former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was calling for back in March.

It will be interesting to see just how Mr. Lewis’ housing prediction pans out 2 months from now. I’m circling August 19 on my calendar…

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