are universally believed to slow things down when in fact the increased deficit spending for the additional federal interest expense adds a bit of (highly regressive) support for the economy:It has fallen off with the slowdown but remains reasonably high historically: Down from the highs but still showing growth:After a large Covid dip followed by a post-Covid recovery sales are just below where they were for most of the pre-Covid years. And with prices a lot higher nominal sales are still much higher:Mortgage purchases applications are also down to levels just below pre-Covid years:Housing starts remain above pre covid levels, even with higher rates, and the chart gives a good indication of how much housing has declined in size relative to the rest of the economy since the 2006 peak:Confidence is down but still above 50 indicating modest growth is expected:
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