Despite reports to the contrary, rising interest rates aren't thwarting the housing recovery. That's according to the October Metrostudy newsletter, which reported that new home sales nationwide were up 7.9% in August over July. And, it appears, the only folks surprised about those numbers were the analysts themselves. The only declines observed are typical seasonal declines homebuilders see at this time every year.

In fact, Metrostudy reports that new subdivision traffic continues to stay above last year and that average traffic across subdivisions reached its highest level in 18 months the week of August 18. And its most-recent September data showed average contracts up 12% and average traffic up 10% over 2012.

Some areas showed much greater growth than the national numbers reported. For example, with a 78% increase, the Boulder area rounded out the top five cities with month-over-month growth in contracts for August. "The housing recovery is alive and well," said Jonathan Smoke with Metrostudy. "Life drives demand for housing, not the Fed." Read more...