As 2012 comes to a close, the U.S. housing market remains one of the bright spots of the economy.

In November, existing home sales rose 5.9% to an annualized rate of 5 million, beating Wall Street expectations. Last month was the 17th consecutive month of growth in the housing market and the highest level of sales since November 2009. The national price for an existing home also rose 10.1% to $180,600 in November.

"I think housing is going to continue to improve," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "So for the next 3 or 4 years we will see better home sales, more housing construction and higher house prices. All of which is good news for the economic recovery."

Even though there are roughly 3 million homes in foreclosure, Zandi is very optimistic about housing demand.

Here are the key points of his housing outlook for next year and beyond:

• The recovery has legs for the next 2-4 years.
• Expect a rise in sales, construction and prices, which could positively impact

Congress this week is considering a $60 billion bill to pay for damages inflicted by Superstorm Sandy across three Northeastern states in late October. Though some Republican congressional members are balking at the sum, which the White House is requesting, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut say the damage is closer to $82 billion.

In either case, these sums are nothing compared to the long-term price the U.S. will pay as a result of extreme weather caused by climate change says Michael Hanemann, an economics professor specializing in climate change at Arizona State University.

"What we're going to experience is unprecedented in human history in terms of the type of climate we're creating for ourselves," Hanemann tells The Daily Ticker. "The rate of warming has increased maybe five times what it was in the early part of the 20^th century. The earth is getting warmer faster."

The first 11 months of this year were the warmest on record for the United States and this summer's drought