Why did America's first-quarter growth come in at such a disappointing rate? One theory is that after the housing bust, we've started living in much smaller quarters. Single-family home construction is still 64 percent below its 2006 peak, but multi-family housing - mostly apartment buildings - is back to peak levels.
While 95 percent of simgle-family homes are built to be owned, 90 percent of multi-family units are built to be rented. That not only reduces the amount of money Americans are spending on housing, but it reduces the amount they're spending on household items as well.
Indeed, spending on such items as appliance and window treatments has slowed greatly since the recession. Combined with lowered spending on housing, that has proven to be a drag on overall GDP.
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