Redfish Mark

Housing: No Bottom Yet in Sight

Solid article, JD. We’re increasingly convinced as we research markets across the country for real estate investors that there will in all probability not be a notable “bottom” in the national market any time soon. The worst (and majority of) markets are languishing – inventories are blossoming, local economies are highly stressed, sentiment is lousy, and many are not experiencing sufficient price corrections to stimulate market activity.

What’s confounding, and very interesting, is the fact that there are however many local real estate markets across the nation with very sound fundamentals – including balanced for sale inventories, relatively stable prices, robust transaction rates, as well as solid demand driven by surprisingly vibrant supporting economies and impressive, sustainable population growth rates.

We further agree that the housing rescue bill will transfer excessive to the taxpayer, and likely have little meaningful near term benefit for housing’s travails overall.

Unfortunately the drag of the “disaster” real estate markets far overshadows the contribution of the healthier markets to the national housing picture.