As 2012 nears its end, it is time to reflect on the past 12 months and look forward to 2013. In 2017, when 2012 is five years in our rear view mirror, we will look back as this being the year that the housing recovery began. Most housing markets across the country have shown improvement from 2011, both in terms of sales volume and price stabilization. While we are still far, far away from the heady days of 2005, we have definitely turned the corner. Think about some of the year end numbers that are now coming to light: new home sales hit a four year high in September, the median new home sales price in October was 7 percent higher than in 2010, the Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction Index, which tracks seven publicly traded builders, is up 70 percent so far this year, and almost every public homebuilder is now profitable.

So, as we look forward to an even better 2013, we look at some interesting facts that make our country and our industry unique:

• 1. Part of the reason Medicare and Social Security are money pits is because people are living much longer than expected. There are worse problems to have.
• 2. MIT has created solar cells that can be printed on paper and other fabrics. Think about the possibilities.
• 3. Life expectancy for someone born today is eight years longer than someone born in 1960.
• 4. A BMW plant in South Carolina gets two-thirds of its power from methane generated from a nearby trash dump.
• 5. In 1900, 44 percent of all American jobs were related to farming. Think about this; almost half of all employment was devoted to eating.
• 6. Nearly 30 percent of Americans over the age of 25 have a bachelor’s degree. In the 1960’s, that figure was less than 10 percent.
• 7. The average American now retires at age 62. One hundred years ago, the average American died at the age of 51.
• 8. Unemployment fell by 60 percent from 1933 to 1936, and by 35 percent from 1982 to 1984. Once a recovery finds its footing, the rebound is usually swift.
• 9. The homeownership rate is plunging. Most of those who never should have owned a home in the first place no longer do.
• 10. New home construction is now one-third the trend rate of household formation. Nothing bodes better for the impending housing recovery.
• 11. Only four percent of humans get to live in America. If you are reading this, the odds are that you are one of them.

With these thoughts in mind, warmest wishes for a Happy and Prosperous 2013.

The Motley Fool provides most of the facts listed above