Largely confident about the course of the economy and their place in it, people are buying homes — new and used — in significant numbers. In recent years they also have been buying more boats, and the growing ranks of homeowners bode well for the continued moderate growth of boat sales.

New homeowners also purchase plenty of other things, including refrigerators, washing machines and other major appliances, and a meaningful uptick in household spending could help the economy build on upwardly revised gross domestic product...