David Lereah, the chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, and the author of the 2005 best seller Why the Real Estate Boom Will Not Bust and How You Can Profit From It, sees signs of an upturn in the housing market. That was his assessment of the uptick in existing home sales reported for February. (This was largely driven by unusually warm weather in December and January in the Northeast and Midwest.) To its credit, the Post article did include the views of a more pessimistic analyst, unlike the NYT�s AP story, which let Lereah�s views go unchallenged.
--Dean Baker