First American Deputy Chief Economist Odeta Kushi was interviewed on Bloomberg earlier this month, providing her thoughts on macro-economic trends influencing home buyers and the housing market, including the job market and wage growth.

In addition to the Bloomberg interview, she also offered the following commentary on what the April 5 jobs report from the U.S. Census Bureau means for the housing market.

“Despite disappointing numbers in the February jobs report, the big picture is that the U.S. economy is still on track to beat the longest expansion record,” said Kushi. “We’ve experienced 102 consecutive months of job gains, and employers are now feeling the pressure to increase wages to lure workers. The March jobs report is a sigh of relief that the labor market remains robust.

“Continued strong wage growth, which has been above 3 percent now for six months, is a positive sign for home buyers heading into the spring home buying season,” said Kushi. “Wage growth at this pace implies year-over-year household income growth may also be above 3 percent this month.

“The February job creation number was revised up, but remains the anomaly in the trend. Remove the low February number and the average number of jobs created so far this year remains well above 200,000,” said Kushi. “Apart from February, the strong labor market continues, which bodes well for the housing market.”

Watch the April 3 Bloomberg Clip Below
(skip to 7:30 mark for Odeta’s segment)