Housing Recovery in the Near Future?

Well, the Standard & Poor’s Supercomposite Homebuilding Index seems to think so. So far just in the first two and a half months of 2010, the index has seen a 14 percent recovery. That's good news.

But housing sales fell in January so we're still getting mixed signals. What will happen when the first time homebuyer's incentive expires at the end of April? We just don't know yet. Some think the incentive will be extended but I have a sneaking feeling that it won't.

The unemployment rate has moderated some but not nearly enough to signal a real recovery. And don't forget that we have large areas of the nation who've seen substantial housing value declines.

I think we're on the downhill side of this recession but I'm also worried that dropping the first time home buyer's credit too soon may set us back a couple of steps.