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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (595155)	12/9/2010 9:09:19 AM
From: jlallen	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1583595

Looks like we are not out of the woods yet... Broad-based Home Price Declines Raise Fear of Double-Dip Recession By Mark Heschmeyer (Co-Star Real Estate Advisor) December 1, 2010 U.S. national home prices declined 2% in the third quarter of 2010, after having risen 4.7% in the second quarter, according to Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. Nationally, home prices are 1.5% below their level one year ago. "Another weak report... the national index is down 1.5% from the third quarter of last year and 15 of 20 cities are down over the last 12 months. Other than Tampa, FL, there are no new lows this month, but many analysts will argue that a double dip will be confirmed before spring," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's. While some of the bad numbers may reflect the end of the government's tax incentive for first time homebuyers, analysts say there are other problems weighing on the housing market. "The national economy is certainly the number one issue for housing," added Blitzer. "There is a large supply of houses on the market and further, hidden, supply due to delinquent mortgages, pending foreclosures or vacant homes... so a sustained recovery could be a ways off." Freddie Mac in its third quarter Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index noted similar trends. Home values registered a 1.9% decrease (-7.4% annualized) in the third quarter relative to the second quarter. U.S. home values fell 3.1% relative to the third quarter a year ago. Home values fell in eight of nine Census Divisions, rising only in the New England Division. "Home sales in the third quarter declined from the second quarter, in part because of the expiration of the home-buyer tax credit," said Amy Crews Cutts, Freddie Mac deputy chief economist. "Although sales rose in August and September, the net decline over the quarter was still large. We're now seeing the effect of the sales slow-down in home purchase prices "Distressed sales, including foreclosed properties and short sales, are still a big part of the market," Cutts said. "The past three quarters we've seen encouraging numbers in delinquency trends as reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association, though the delinquency rates remain high. Our forecast is for economic conditions to continue to improve, which should lower delinquency rates further over the coming year and relieve some of the downward pressure on home prices."