The longer housing numbers remain sour, the longer we’ll have continued intervention from the Federal Reserve. Without quantitative easing, interest rates would jump. Although there would finally be certainty without government intervention, the market would be hit extremely hard.
 
Numbers will not be improving any time soon. While we will  see some pickups in a variety of indicators like new home construction, these need to be taken into context that they are often below or just equal to previous years. There are an estimated 5.3 million homes in limbo between foreclosure and the liquidation. It will take about 49 months to clear that shadow inventory.
 
Real growth in housing comes with higher GDP growth and serious cuts in unemployment. Otherwise, we are treading water.