Existing home prices rose for the first time in seven months in February, proving that homes in some regions have gotten too cheap to ignore.In fact, as Bloomberg News notes, prices have fallen by the biggest amount in 40 years. Of course, that means that many people now live in homes with mortgages larger than their values. Supply far outstrips demand in many markets, and at least some experts don't believe that the market has hit bottom.
"It looks like this may be a temporary pause,'' Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at Global Insight Inc., told Bloomberg, "The price declines have helped.''
"We're not expecting a notable gain in existing-home sales until the second half of this year, but the improvement is another sign that the market is stabilizing," National Association of Realtors economist Lawrence Yun told The Wall Street Journal.
While the 2.9% gain over January's figures was better than what economists had expected, the figures were down 24% compared with the same period a year earlier. It will be a buyers' market for quite some time.
--Freelance writer Jonathan Berr edits the blog Ketchup and Eggs.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-24-2008 @ 6:05PM
al coholic said...
As I mentioned on your Wallet Pop blog, The NAR has about as much credibility as Baghdad Bob's Iraq war updates.
Hey, the NAR actually has an economist? No doubt he is a part time sales agent too, when he's not waving his pom poms.
3-24-2008 @ 7:37PM
joe said...
THe only way that the housing market is going to recover is when the Banks start making home loans which they are not doing right now.
3-24-2008 @ 10:56PM
william lindblad said...
Joe: The banks are making loans but you need 20% down and stellar credit. The price of a home has to get back down in line with what people make before anything is going to change. It has a long way to go and all the mansion builders better find some rich buyers. Median price is now at 195,000 in 2000 it was around 160,000. On the other hand 2000 median wage was around 30 g's and it's no at about 37. Let's see now - payroll went up about 25% and houses went up 100-150%. That in its self tells the story. Hey, I didn't even mention taxes and gas. The fed does not care about inflation - why should I?