When assessing the strength of America’s leap-frog economic growth of the late 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, it’s readily apparent that the overwhelming automotive and housing construction sectors provided the backbone.
While automotive has surprisingly rebounded with unexpected vigor, any million-plus annual new residential construction units appear to be unattainable after the “housing implosion” that occurred during the Great Recession. Conventional wisdom relegated additional future housing to long-term leasing, rental and speculative developments, rather than a personal long-term asset to be held indefinitely by the owner. This belief system traces back to the post-World War II return of the GI millions and lasted up to the mid-2008 crash.