You might think the question posed in the headline above sounds crazy. Aren't foreclosures very high and thousands of distressed properties hitting the market each day? Didn't residential construction go bonkers during the housing bubble in an epic overbuilding binge? The answers to these questions are: sort of, but it's complicated. After the bubble popped, home construction fell to historic lows and stayed there. As a result, we may be on the verge a housing shortage in the U.S., which would actually be very good news for the economic recovery.

Read more ...