While many analysts and pundits predicted first quarter 2014 growth at 2.6 percent, in fact the economy shrank 2.9 percent, more than the minus one percent initially reported at the end of May. The only times gross domestic product (GDP) has fallen more than 1.5 percent has been just before or during a recession since the government began tracking the trend in 1947. As housingwire.com informs MHProNews, while existing home sales in May topped April’s numbers by five percent, most of the gains were in the $1 million-plus housing market. Whether the housing market is a drain on the economy, or the economy is dragging the economy down is not clear. ##

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