Aside from the furloughed federal workers, the housing recovery may be the first economic victim of the government shutdown. Over the last two years, housing has gone from being a headwind to a major boon to U.S. economic growth. As Warren Buffett once told me, “if we can fix housing, we can fix the economy.” But the shutdown has put the majority of the IRS as well as a good chunk of the Federal Housing Administration out of work. If they can’t process data, mortgages can’t move through the system, and homebuyers could potentially get stuck in limbo. That’s why the nascent housing recovery could be in danger.
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