Existing home sales up?
The National Association of Realtors' report is scheduled for release today, and home resales for October are projected to rise to the highest level in more than two years as first-time buyers, anticipating that a tax credit would soon expire, rushed to beat the clock. Sales are expected to show a 1.4 percent increase to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.65 million, up from 5.57 million in September, according to economists polled by Thomson Reuters. If this turns out to be true, it would be the best month for home sales since July 2007.
But sales are likely to drop over the winter as buyers hibernate for a few months without the looming tax credit deadline, said Pat Lashinsky, chief executive of online real estate brokerage ZipRealty Inc. Over the summer, the housing market started to rebound from the worst downturn in decades, aided by aggressive federal interventions to lower mortgage rates and bring more buyers into the market. But experts forecast that prices will fall again. Most say they will hit a new low next spring, perhaps falling another 5 to 10 percent, as more foreclosures get pushed onto the market. Foreclosures also are a growing problem. The Mortgage Bankers Association said last week that a record-high 14 percent of homeowners with a mortgage were either behind on payments or in foreclosure at the end of September. Driven by rising unemployment, fixed-rate loans made to borrowers with good credit accounted for nearly 33 percent of new foreclosures last quarter. That compares with 21 perce nt a year ago.
Eric - My area newspaper blares a headline about how PRICES are up (in some obscure town somewhere USA). That's the media skewing stats for ya, again....