sleepless_on_wall_street

When Will the Housing Market Bottom?

Fred Wilson - - -

The rent vs own costs are always local. In my area (Raleigh, NC) rentals for new and nearly new houses are in the $1000 range for $200K prices. There may be some markets in which the bottom is near, but certainly not on a national scale. Are the Las Vegas investors making the right call about their market (Tim Plaehn & Korn)? I don't know. The situation mentioned by Korn (purchase for 25 cents on the dollar) is a good move if the $300K is a legitimate value and not a bubble-top price that couldn't sell before everything went south. Maybe $75 is close to market value today? I don't know the Las Vegas market, so I won't try to make a call.

With regard to the second home and investment home situation, Steven Hanson wrote an excellent article on SA a few days ago. He included some excellent references, including the demographic burden on that market.

I am writing a comprehensive article on analysis of the factors affecting the outlook for the housing market nationally. My findings are supportive of the opinions expressed by PMjan814. Of course, I repeat, local conditions will vary significantly from the national averages.

I hope that readers (and authors) will continue to present local anecdotal reports for housing because it provides a valuable comparison (and contrast) to the national data.