What an amazing statistic, 1 in 9 homes across the United States are sitting empty. That my friends is the housing glut, and until those numbers come down, housing prices are going to have a very hard time coming up.
We may have hit bottom in some of the earliest hit states, but overall the problem still is an inventory glut. Same thing is happening in the car industry, go to any dealer and see how eager they are to negotiate over anything. They have too much inventory and the holding costs are killing them.
The holding cost for banks and their foreclosures, or homeowners stuck with an empty home waiting to sell are devastating. The pressure to take a bad offer is tough, and the cost of holding the property is destroying their assets.
Watch the empty house number in your area. If it keeps increasing, odds are you will still be able to find great deals. When the empty homes start disappearing, then we will see housing prices rise.
Multiply that scenario hundreds of thousands of times. From Maine to Hawaii, millions of new McMansions, post-World War II bungalows, modern downtown lofts, exurban town homes and inner-city row houses sit empty. This unprecedented glut of vacant homes — one in nine homes across the USA, according to the Census Bureau — will change the real estate landscape for years.
Already, rock-bottom prices in the hardest-hit markets are attracting first-time home buyers who could not afford a home during boom times. Some areas may see real estate values stabilize by the end of this year, as buyers seeking bargains begin to reduce the backlog of homes for sale. At the same time, the availability of rental housing will widen, potentially pushing down the cost of renting. USATODAY.com.
I read somewhere online last week that Fannie and Freddie are still sitting on 700k ghost listings that they are slowly pushing into the market so that they don’t shock prices all at once.
Mark
That is amazing. It is good they did not flood the market, but that is a heck of a lot of inventory sitting and rotting.
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It is going to be an REO goldmine when the dust settles.
it means its good news for the people like us . i was searching for a house for sometime now in usa, i already own a house in uk, i am planning to move to usa and am planning to sell my uk home, can it be a good investment for the future?
The bottleneck is getting the financing to buy right now. until underwriters ease up qualifying, it's going to stay like this.
I showed about 12 homes one day last week…three were occupied, and two of them were entering foreclosure.
yes, selling homes are possible, its really important if you are permanently moving your residence
i recently read Alan Greenspan said falling home prices in America are “nowhere near the bottom”.
and this fact prove this statement. Peoples are willing to bargain on prices.
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