Existing Home Sales data for December ’09 is encouraging but mixed signals. The following is a summary of an analysis by Steve Wood, Chief Economists with Insight Economics, LLC.

Existing Home Sales fell by a record 16.7% in December to 5.45M, compared with market expectations for a much smaller decrease to 6.00M. The decline was largely due to the expiration of the first time homebuyer’s tax credit, which as subsequently been extended and expanded. The average of November and December was 6.00M, in line with its October level. Still, home re-sales are 15.0% above their year ago levels but also still 9.8% below their September 2005 high record. There should be a substantial recovery next month.

US housing will begin to gradually recover in the second half of this year according to David Goldberg, home-building analyst for UBS, a global financial services firm. Here are their 10 predictions for housing in 2010:

Each quarter Bloomberg News surveys 60 economists for projections on the US economy. The most accurate of these forecasters for the first three quarters is Dean Maki, chief US economist at Barclays Capital Inc. in New York and a former economist at the Federal Reserve.

The cargo ships of new programs being shipped out of Washington each week alone can keep one’s head spinning. Like the weather, it is nearly impossible to get an accurate reading let alone glean reliable numbers on which to base plans.

So, it is no surprise that conflicting signals are coming from competing economic brain trusts. This week’s examples come from Duetsche Bank researchers and HIS Global Insight.