Seems low interest rates aren’t all the tool they’re cracked up to be?
But they’ve only been low for a bit over 3 years.
Monetary policy works with a lag and all that.
Much like Japan.
Again like the carpenter said of his piece of wood, no matter how much cut off it’s still too short?

Along the same lines, next thing they’ll be doing is increasing savings incentives to help investment.

And note the slight twist on the same theme, increasing bank capital requirements to support confidence.

It’s about aggregate demand, and how you can’t drain yourself to prosperity.

How hard is that?

New Home Sales Unexpectedly Slip 1.6% in February

March 23 (Reuters) — New U.S. single-family home sales fell in February, but a jump in prices to their highest level in eight months kept hopes alive of a recovery in the housing market.

The Commerce Department said on Friday sales slipped 1.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted 313,000-unit annual rate. January’s sales pace was revised down to 318,000 units from the previously reported 321,000 units.

Sales for November and December were revised up a bit.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast sales at a 325,000-unit rate in February. Compared to February last year, new home sales were up 11.4 percent.

The median price for a new home rose 8.3 percent to $233,700, the highest level since June. Compared to February last year, the median price was up 6.2 percent.

The report, which rounded off a week of mixed housing data, followed a similar pattern seen in the market for used homes. Home resales fell in February, but prices rose from a year earlier. Housing starts slipped, while permits for home building approached a 3-1/2 year high in February.