Everyone is looking for good news for the housing market.
Validation that it’s not a bad time to buy. Or to upgrade. To invest in a renovation.
With all markets, analysts look for indicators of market direction. Most tend to be lagging indicators. Evidence of a move in the market thats starts to appear only as the market is actually moving in that direction.
The real jewel in the crown is finding a leading indicator. One that actually seems to predict a market move before it’s underway. Today we saw a glimpse of a leading indicator.
Home Depot to hire 70K workers for spring
The Home Depot always hires new seasonal workers for the spring renovation but the number this year is very promising.
Home-goods sellers are facing cautious consumer spending and a prolonged weak housing market. They’ve had to adjust to fewer consumers making large-scale home renovations by cutting costs and improving services such as online shopping and customer service.
But results are slowly improving. Home Depot Inc.’s net income for the third-quarter ended Oct. 30 rose 12 percent while revenue edged up 4 percent to $17.33 billion from $16.6 billion last year.
Full story at Yahoo! News.
So Home Depot is hiring. That has to be good news. Their profits are rising again. People want to invest in housing both literally and emotionally. The pride of home ownership which was undoubtably shaken may be gaining momentum once again.