Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at Spencer Clarke LLC:
Commenting on the housing data, Sheldon said the latest report only confirms what previous reports have been saying about the sector.
“While the debate may rage over the strength of the housing market in 2006, almost all data confirm the fact that some slowing is currently taking place.”
Sales of new homes in the United States fell 5% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.233 million, the lowest in a year, the Commerce Department said. Economists had been expecting home sales to remain level at about 1.27 million. December sales, however, were revised higher
via Mark Cotton, MarketWatch
They say it’s up, they say it’s down. What can we reasonably expect? Well, reasonably with higher interest rates we know things in the housing market have to wind down, a bit at least. I think we will have the worried money leaving real estate, but housing is just one of those things that people depend on to be stable and I think that is what the larger picture will be. Too many have an interest in making sure we don’t burst any bubbles, even if there has to be a correction downward in values.
I’m no expert, that said I’m pretty confident that our real estate situation will fall in beween the prognostications of steep decline vs. no decline. Our local newspaper denied that the real estate here will suffer value losses.
Bubble? What bubble?
Stability reigns in central Ohio real estate
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Lee Stratton
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCHSorry to burst your bubble, but there isn’t a housing bubble to burst.
-but looking closely, they say that because Ohio doesn’t produce the values at the starting gate, with our depressed economy and poor showing in comparison with other states to begin with. A plug here to throw the bums out- vote carefully Ohioans! High taxes, lagging economy, scandal ridden government all create a negative environment that gets the polished spin in this Newspaper piece.
so as Michael Sheldon says at the top of the post- we will see something of a correction down in the prices of homes. Sadly, those caught up in the greed of unscrupulous types of lending are going to get hurt. That has been reported upon as MSN Money says,
Empty houses, falling prices: A boom dies
You can see how the housing bubble is bursting in places like Columbus, Ohio, where builders and lenders threw common sense away and enticed people to buy homes they couldn’t afford.
Personally? I think that we will see a dip, but then stabilization. Because your everyday Joe doesn’t invest in gold when things look iffy… he sticks with some solid ground beneath his feet. So as long as we have a solid middle class in the country we will likely have real estate investment and support for that.
But…. have we forgotten Kelo ? I haven’t. And that is the real threat against real estate investments of the everyday Joes.