As advertised, the brutal headwinds that buffeted the U.S. economy late last year are having knock-on effects in the early months of 2019. The economy’s performance in the closing quarter of 2018 did not look bad at all as GDP advanced by a respectable 2.6 percent annual rate, according to the government’s preliminary estimate That capped a full-year growth rate of 2.9 percent, which ties for the fastest pace since 2005. But the year ended on a downbeat amid escalating trade tensions; the start of a 35-day government shutdown; a debilitating plunge in stock prices that wiped out nearly $4 trillion in household net worth; and rising interest rates, fueled by fears that the Federal Reserve was tightening policy too aggressively.

Don’t Rule Out A Soft Landing
In real estate, they say that location is everything. In economics, timing is paramount. With prices rising at a pace not seen since the early