Rarely do you see a mainstream “establishment” media source speak so frankly, but the New York Times did just that yesterday with an excellent article worth reading. Well written, and most importantly, very honest reporting about the reality of where we are:
“You have to wonder sometimes what they’re smoking over there at the National Association of Realtors.
On Tuesday, the self-proclaimed “voice for real estate” released its “existing home sales” figures for July. They were gruesome. Sales were down 27 percent from the previous month, and down 26 percent from a year ago. Annualized, the July sales figures would translate into fewer than 3.9 million homes sold this year — a staggeringly low figure. (The record high occurred in 2005, when more than seven million houses were sold.)
Yet here was Lawrence Yun, the association’s chief economist, trying to turn lemons into lemonade: “Given the rock-bottom mortgage interest rates and historically high housing affordability conditions, the pace of a sales recovery could pick up quickly, provided the economy consistently adds jobs,” he said in a news release.
Mr. Yun also predicted that home values would not fall much further, since they were “back in line relative to income.” In other words, the July numbers were a mere blip.
Clearly, Mr. Yun needs to get out a little more often. Specifically, he ought to talk to people on the ground — like mortgage lenders or prospective borrowers. Talking to these people would probably give him a more sober take on the larger meaning of the latest sales numbers for existing homes.”
Amen. The full article –
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/28/business/economy/28nocera.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&hp
