Housing Recovery l ied To Economy: Klaman
Real help for housing will not be forthcoming until soaring prices and interest rates are whipped. Dr. Saul B. Klaman, vice president and chief economist of the National Association of Mutual Savings Banks, said recently in Rochester, N.'ST.</br></br>ÛÏThe hard fact is that hope for housing is tied directly to hope for the economy,Û the NAMSB economist emphasized to the Rochester Real Estate Board.</br></br>ÛÏIn this respect, one can begin to detect some signs of recovery from the many months of economic malaise,Û Klaman continued. The past few weeks may in retrospect prove to have been the turning point in the nearly uninterrupted upward sweep of interest rates, he, said, and as evidence that "there is more than wishful thinking in this view.Û Klaman cited the following: Û¢	Progress, however limited, on the inflation front, with cooling off in the fuel and food sectors; and</br></br>"If evidence of an improved economic climate continues to accumulate, the momentum for favorable change could accelerate,Û said Klaman, suggesting the prospect of some decline in short-term interest rates. program to aid housing is at best a temporary stopgap measux*e which can provide only marginal assistance to the nationÛªs depressed housing market, Klaman commented.</br></br>ÐÊ"Forty per cent of these housing aid dollars consist of proposed Federal Home Loan Bank advances to savings and loans, many of whom may not wish to borrow further, even at below, market interest rates," he pointed out.