Survey Sees Continued Housing Strength

The housing sector will remain strong and interest rates will hold steady for the remainder of 1998, according to a survey of 19 Wall Street economists by the Bank of America.The consensus forecast of the economists sees housing starts of 1.54 million units for the year, up from a recent estimate that projected a figure of 1.53 million, the survey said. Most of the panel believed that the Federal Reserve Board would hold interest rates steady through the end of the year and their projections of gross domestic product in 1998 averaged 3.4%. The survey, published in the Bank of America's publication Economics Illustrated, also contained forecasts of bad news. A majority of the panel said economic conditions in East Asia have not yet hit bottom and could worsen the U.S. export picture.