October 17, 2005
U.S. home values have soared to $18 trillion this year from $8 trillion in `95, according to Mr. Greenspan. Said Delores Conway, director of the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast at the University of Southern California: ``That money has created a lot of retail spending.''
The Fed's '01 move to cut interest rates helped drive housing and spending, softening the recession. Housing wealth accounted for more than one-fourth of personal consumption gains from `01-`03, NAR estimated. Housing also made recovery a bit less jobless; home building, real-estate finance, brokerage and related jobs account for 21% of employment growth since the recession ended, according to American Demographics' analysis.