Tanking Home Sales Indicate ... a Recovery? Why The Latest Terrible Housing Numbers Don't Scare Industry Insiders

The most recent housing market data was, frankly, just awful.

Reports from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the National Association of Realtors (NAR) revealed updated data through the end of March 2020. Sales were down. Construction starts were down. Consumer confidence was down. The industry's outlook was ... up?

Yes, several real estate industry insiders think the conditions reflected in that ugly data may actually be good for homebuilders like D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) and PulteGroup (NYSE: PHM), as well as realtors like Zillow Group (NASDAQ: Z) (NASDAQ: ZG), and home improvement stores like Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and Lowe's (NYSE: LOW). Here's why that bad data is inspiring such confidence.