The Federal Reserve announced that it would keep short-term interest rates near zero. Also buried in there was this rather vague nugget about the nation’s housing market: “Housing starts have edged up but remain at a depressed level.”

The good people at Calculated Risk took that line as a chance to play a fun game of Fed Kremlinology, taking a look at the Fed’s previous statements on the housing market to discern a trend:

Oddly enough, it turns out national housing trends have been roughly tracking with the plot of a bad romance novel. Fed meets handsome stranger with a shady past. Fed falls madly in love with handsome stranger. Handsome stranger breaks Fed’s heart. Fed sits around in pajamas eating cookie dough for a month. Sadder but wiser Fed slowly begins to learn to love again.

Based on that analysis, we’d say it’s probably time to buy.