Following is a compilation of some views and statson the housing markets from credible sources:
CBS Marketwatch: Glut of unsold homes rises to 18-year high. Home prices falling at fastest pace in 16 years, Case-Shiller says. The Case Shiller monthly survey of 20 Metro Markets shows us that the declines are still with us. Shiller is a professor of Economics at Yale University.
Atlanta Federal Reserve Board: "Dennis Lockhart, president of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank, said "I believe the bottom of the housing downturn could be a ways off -- potentially the second half of 2008 or later,"
US Dept of Commerce: Sales of new one-family houses in August 2007 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 795,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 8.3 percent (±12.4%)* below the revised July rate of 867,000 and is 21.2 percent (±9.0%)below the August 2006 estimate of 1,009,000.
Finally, I think I caught a little light in all of this gloom. CBS Marketwatch Also quoted Lawrence Yun, senior economist for the real estate trade group, as saying he credit-market freeze in August no doubt contributed to the decline in sales ". Many loans that had been committed to fell through, Yun said, so the sales couldn't close. Existing-home sales are measured at closing.
An informal survey of real estate brokers showed about 10% of jumbo loans were failing to close, Yun said. The increase in inventories was driven mostly by lower sales, not by more supply hitting the market.
The emphasis is mine..... I wouldn't make the case we are seeing a bottom but it is always good to know that some of the recent worst was due to the credit problem, no longer with us
Thanks for Reading
Howard Bell
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