The nation’s housing market recovery is a sign that the economy is slowly improving and rebounding from the recession.

It’s no secret that the United States is going through a rough economic patch right now. However, the nation’s housing market recovery is a sign that the economy is slowly improving and rebounding from the recession.

Large Increase in Home Sales Show Steady Improvement

New home sales increased from December to January to the highest level in four-and-a-half years, as steady job creation and record-low interest rates influenced people to buy. It also showed that single-family home prices picked up in December, ending 2012 with the biggest yearly gain in more than six years.

“Home prices ended in 2012 with solid gains,” David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in a statement to NBC News. “Housing and residential construction (led) the economy in the 2012 fourth quarter.”

Other notable stats about the housing market recovery include:

• Prices in 20 cities jumped 6.8 percent year-over-year, ahead of expectations for 6.6 percent and the best yearly gain since July of 2006.
• For the final quarter of the year (2012), prices gained 2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis.
• The Commerce Department said new-home sales rose nearly 16 percent in January, the largest percentage increase in nearly 20 years.
• The housing inventory of existing homes for sale is at a 13-year low, creating a demand for new homes.

Housing Market Recovery Creates Jobs

In order to keep up with the large request for new homes, builders began construction on the most homes in four years last year. Data from the National Association of Home Builders reveals that each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates approximately $90,000 in tax revenue. The construction industry has gained 98,000 jobs since September, which is the largest increase since the spring of 2006.

The economy still has a lot of rebuilding to do, but the housing market recovery reveals that it is steadily improving.