Housing Not Enough

Though the housing sector seems to be coming back, by itself it isn’t a large enough share of GDP to help very much. Even if residential construction, less than 3% of GDP,  jumps 20% this year, the gain would add less than one percentage point to GDP.

Such a contribution wouldn’t even be big enough to offset the drag from the $200 billion in tax hikes associated with the "fiscal cliff" deal. Economists expect the tax increases to reduce growth in consumer spending by at least one percent in 2013.