Category: Housing

ReferencePace of Decline In Home Prices Sets a Record, WSJ

Contrary to the popular belief, house prices do come down. Check out this historical chart (from '88 to '06), from NY Times.

Is is a good time to buy now?I don't think so. It's going to take a lot longer for this market to finally settle down. It's going to be up and down for some time.The housing market will settle down and might start going up sometime in 2008 -- I'm not the only one that thinks like that, a lot of economists have the same view. Why so long? It was an up market for a long time, 1998 - 2005. It's going to take a long time come down."It may not be until 2008 until the market bottoms out," predicted James Hughes, dean of the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.The problem, Hughes said, is the "extraordinary gains" in the market played out over seven…

This is where the housing market currently is:- median home sale-price appreciation: sharply down- new home inventory: sharply up- single-family home sales: slowly going down- mortgage apps: downWe should see interesting years ahead. For more detaisl and to see big charts, go to the article referenced below.ReferenceRecent Housing Data: Charts & Analysis, The Big Picture blog

If you're looking to buy a house (like me; but think house prices are crazy), this article is great to read. Wnen I was reading it, I felt music flowing in my ears. I kept telling myself: this is great stuff. If you already own one or you're looking to sell, this might be too hard to swallow, though. Great article.ReferenceViewpoint: Housing bubble going bust nationally, found it on Economy.comWelcome to the dead zone, Fortune Magazine

No comments needed. Excellent summary of the current housing market.If the U.S. housing market is not a bubble bursting, it is at least a boom deflating, as new data made clear today.New home sales sank 10.5% last month, the Commerce Department said, the biggest decline since April 1997 and far bigger than economists expected. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of home sales was the slowest in nearly two years. Sales have fallen in four of the past six months. Meanwhile, the number of unsold homes on the market rose more than 4%, representing a 6.3-month supply, the highest in more than a decade. Unsurprisingly for anyone with a vague knowledge of basic economic principles, rising supply and falling demand means new-home prices are falling. The median price for a new…

Not a good sign. But I knew it was coming. And it's only going to get worse in the years ahead.Do you know how to get information about the foreclosures in your area? Is there a website for that purpuse (I'm sure there is). I'd like to get access to that. I think it might be a good way to snap a bargain (not now, but in a year or two).In January, 103,540 homes were in foreclosure, up 27% from 81,290 in December and 45% above last year. January's foreclosure total was the highest level since RealtyTrac began releasing monthly reports in May 2005.January's 27% increase in foreclosures is consistent with the increasing foreclosure trend seen throughout 2005. In total, nearly 847,000 properties entered foreclosure in 2005, representing 0.7% of…

I'm a bit worried about the housing market. You probably know that I'm not buying a house at these prices, especially in the NJ area. But I'm worried that the buyers are over stretching themselves, and when the interest rates rise (a little more), many of them will not be able to pay for their mortgage. As a result, the pool of buyers will shorten. As a result, the whole economy might suffer. That's what I'm worried the most. But like I said, this frenzy cannot continue, and will not continue, forever. Every bubble inflates to the point when it bursts. Hopefully, it will only be by a slow deflation...There is an interesting article on Economist.com (one of my favorite magazines; recently subscribed to it), about the housing market in…