Housing Slowdown Deeper Than Realtor Group Expected
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
While the housing slowdown is deeper than Realtor groups and builders expected, it is still not as severe as many have predicted online. The market is slowly absorbing the excess inventory that was created after the speculators have left the marketplace and housing prices are not expected to dip on a national basis.
That is not to say that some markets will not be impacted more than others. Sellers are still holding firm on their pricing as builders are cutting costs on excess inventory. The high level of homes on the market is also an indicator of people trying to get their homes for sale near the top of the market. They are not truly motivated sellers and that is also putting pressure on the sellers that do have to move their homes.
The Realtors’ association said it expected both home prices and sales would slide in the coming months as the upper hand in the housing market shifts from the seller to the buyer. But that shift has yet to occur fully, with buyers and sellers staring each other down while unsold houses pile up.
“The seller is a lot more stubborn than any of us had anticipated,” Mr. Lereah said. “Sellers for the last five years have been in control. It’s very hard for them to give up control and revise their expectations downward.”
But once sellers begin to drop their asking prices, housing industry officials hope that home sales will start to rise again.
The rising number of homes on the market and aggressive discounting by home builders are putting pressure on sellers to lower their prices, said Ronald J. Peltier, president and chief executive of HomeServices of America, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway that owns real estate brokerage firms around the country.
“It’s going to take the rest of this year at a minimum for that inventory to be liquidated,” he said. “This period of correction is going to take a little while, but it’s healthy for the market.”via the New York Times.
What does this mean for the average buyer? Be patient, be prepared to make multiple offers, and odds are you will get a home you will be very happy with at a good price.
I am 45 minutes outside of Manhattan in New York I'm interested in renting my horse stable out for photo ...
Commercial sales are up in Miami, but not for the benefit of the seller. Many sellers cannot get the ...
I have never visited a "Haunted House" but I think that I would like to. Do you know of ...
A local real estate in Nice estimated this property 2 years ago for only 280 Million euros.
villa Palm Beach on ...
I think the world changed in mid-September with the Lehman bankruptcy and related fallout. Had we just continued on a ...
Too bad "Asia" doesn't mean Chinatown DC! 
Its true that prices are down and its a buyers market but if the lending community does not change the ...
Ha that is way funny, but hey if it works why not use it. People like that are the ...
Comment by MMAfia on 8 September 2006:
“While the housing slowdown is deeper than Realtor groups and builders expected, it is still not as severe as many have predicted online.”
You are technically correct, only because of the word “still”. Yes, it’s “still” not as severe.
But that should come as no surprise since many predict that 2007 will be the year when the severe decline occurs. So, it’s going exactly as many have predicted.
What is a fact that ALL of us can agree on is that the current trend of deceleration is increasing. According to the gov’t report, the deceleration rate of price apprecation is the most ever since it started collecting data.
So, all signs are pointing to exactly what many online have predicted: 2007 will be the year when it comes home to roost. Just wait till all those sub-prime ARMs re-adjust next year.
National median prices, given the current deceleration trend (which eaked out a 0.9% rate of appreciation in Q2) will most likely go into the negative territory barring some miraculous slowdown of this deceleration trend. Even you must admit that. There is greater chance that the national median price will dip into the median territory than for it to continue to eak out a few positive basis points. The risk analytic models all point to that- and that is a fact from a statistical standpoint.
Which is exactly why the NAR had to say what it did yesterday. It can spin and deny till kingdom come, but once the numbers don’t add up to what they are saying and predicting, they are forced to admit the reality (or else be held liable), albeit still with a little spin. They said prices will dip “temporarily”. Uh-huh. Sure. Of course.
MMAfia
Comment by Rhea on 8 September 2006:
Realtors never realistically predict (or depict) problems in the real estate market. They adore terms like “slide” or “softening” or “correction.” Most realtors wouldn’t admit to a crash if their lives depended on it.
Comment by Dan on 8 September 2006:
Check out an interesting new development posted by Ralph Roberts, one of the nation’s top agents, in his blog “Cash Back at Closing Story Starts to Heat Up” - for more details check out http://www.realblogging.com/default.asp?item=195119
Comment by Alex Broker on 10 September 2006:
I love the market now. Last year sellers listed the house with a discount broker and it sold in few days over asking price. They were asking for 1% commission and this was too much. Today they ask who is capable to sell their house for a fair price, great question.
Today one gets paid for his skills; MLS alone can not sell a house without solid marketing and financing. New home developers are fully cooperating with real estate brokers.
Here in Bay Area prices are a little bit lower but so far no sign of doom. New and resale home are sold and there are buyers.
Alex Broker
http://www.new-homes-san-jose.com