Even the Realtors had a hard time putting lipstick on this pig
Politics, Bailout News, Real Estate November 24th, 2008
The National Association of Realtors released their October existing-home sales data and as expected the numbers were horrible. The interesting news here is that this time around the Realtors are not even trying to spin the bad news. Here are some of the statements in the Realtors news release:
“Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – fell 3.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 4.98 million units in October from a downwardly revised pace of 5.14 million in September, and are 1.6 percent below the 5.06 million-unit level in October 2007.”
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said consumer hesitation is understandable. “Many potential home buyers appear to have withdrawn from the market due to the stock market collapse and deteriorating economic conditions,” he said.
“Total housing inventory at the end of October slipped 0.9 percent to 4.23 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 10.2-month supply2 at the current sales pace, up from a 10.0-month supply in September.”
So, why are the Realtors sounding so “doom and gloom” when we all know that they are always trying to inflate the market? In my opinion, it is quite simple: the Realtors are just trying to push the government into making housing a priority in the next stimulus package to be passed by the next Congress. By painting a bleak picture, the Realtors are accepting to take a short term hit in housing buying confidence in order to make sure that tax breaks for home buyers are included in the next stimulus package, which will benefit Realtors for years to come.
If you don’t believe me, take a look at what Lawrence Yun says: “We have favorable affordability conditions, but we need more than that to give buyers with jobs the confidence they need. This is why a housing stimulus is so critical now to encourage more buyers to draw down the inventory and stabilize home prices. Without home price stabilization, there will not be an economic recovery.”
Oh, I see. So we need to re-inflate home prices to unrealistic levels so Realtors can keep making those commissions. Way to go Realtors!!!
November 25th, 2008 at 10:15 am
i have the same problem with that. home price more expensive. that’s bad.
November 29th, 2008 at 7:42 am
there are all of us had a hard times