单项选择题

TEXT C
Just a few weeks ago, economists and market analysts were expecting the Federal Reserve to cut short-term interest rates one final time when policy-makers gather for their first meeting of the year Tuesday and Wednesday. Now the vast majority of analysts believe the central bank’s aggressive year long rate-cutting cam paign is over, and the focus already is turning to when the Fed will begin raising rates again.
Based on weekly unemployment data, the rate of job reductions is slowing, and almost every economic indicator reported over the past several weeks has been encouraging. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan had reason to be optimistic on Jan. 24, when he testified before a Senate panel and seemed far more upbeat about the economy than be had been just two weeks earlier in a speech that sparked a Wall Street sell-off.
Analysts now believe it is almost a sure hat the Fed will leave rates unchanged when the central bank announces the policy decision Wednesday at about 2; 15 p.m. After an unprecedented 11 rate cuts in 2001, that would mark the first time in more than a year that the Fed’s policy-setting Open Market Committee has held a formal meeting without changing rates.
On Monday, in the latest report to surpass expectations, the Commerce Department reported that new- home sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 946,000 units in December, a 5.7 percent increase over November. Last year was a record year for sales of both new and previously owned homes, as low mortgage rates offset the impact of the recession. Last week the Index of Leading Indicators posted its biggest one-month increase in more than five years, as eight of the 10 indicators that make up the index turned positive. (288)
The author believes that more houses were bought last year because ______.