Boosted by Ben Bernanke and turbocharged by tight inventories and strong recoveries in the worst hit cities, home prices continue to grow strongly. The widely followed Case-Shiller indexes showed the price of single-family homes across 20 of the most important U.S. cities grew 9.3% in February, its fastest rate since May of 2006 before the collapse of the housing bubble and subsequent financial crisis. The housing recovery is already having a positive impact on growth, pushing GDP up as residential investment accelerates, but with more than 1.1 million homes in some state of foreclosure and a shadow inventory that tops 2 million units, it will take some time for the market to truly heal, while the risk of slowdown and a reversal remains a possibility.
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