Other housing downturns in recent decades have been regional. This one is truly national. Prices in the fourth quarter of 2008 fell in nearly 90 percent of the top 150 metro areas, according to the Realtors group. And 5.4 million homeowners, about 12 percent, were in foreclosure or behind on mortgage payments at the end of last year.
Its a huge, huge mistake looking at housing prices right now. Prices are a lagging indicator. Its sales you have to watch and sales are picking up in the worst hit areas.......CA, FLA, NV, AZ and even VA where things were not that bad. Sales have started to pick up here as well. In addition, housing affordability is the best its been in 25 years. Having said that, things are still very bad.
And I have to tell you....living through the So. CA recession/depression in the early 90s taught me that people have to be patient with these things. Right now, the key is surviving. The economy will come back when its ready to come back. And yes, there will be a lot of pain.....retirement put off, people losing their houses and having to start over, a lot of stress and anxiety, etc. I wish it weren't true but it is. And even when we start to recover, it won't seem that way at all. There will still be lots of bad news. We got set up and now we are paying the price. It didn't have to be this way. At least with S. CA, they couldn't have predicted the earthquake and huge defense cutback in the early 90s but with us.......many of us knew Bush was a mistake.....that the invasion of Iraq was a mistake......but we didn't do enough to fight back. |
