Behind the Numbers,with lincoln anderson

Many americans seem to believe the housing market is the place to be for maximum return, but LPL’S chief investment officer disagrees. “I think that the top is probably in for housing, but that the housing market will stay reasonably strong because I don’t expect a big move up in interest rates,” he says. “The overheated housing sales numbers that we saw towards the second and third quarters of [last] year are probably the top.” He acknowledges there’s some risk of a rise in interest rates in 2006, but says he is much more optimistic on that front than he was six months ago, because inflation has been so low.–Robert F. Keane