The Housing Crisis Is Over

The dire headlines coming fast and furious in the financial and popular press suggest that the housing crisis is intensifying. Yet it is very likely that April 2008 will mark the bottom of the U.S. housing market. Yes, the housing market is bottoming right now.

[Vic]

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, hahahahahahah ... I don't believe you.

[pat]

me neither

[Chris]

Forclosure may peak summer 2008 but it will not end suddenly. Now we have to deal with job loss and ballooning energy cost. Housing may hit the bottom this summer and could possibly begin the road to recovery in 2009, but that road is long not short, and most of us can't afford a road trip right now.

[Tom T]

I believe the housing will hit the bottom by the end of this year and slowly move upward by 2009. Looking back 2 or 3 years from now and you will see!

[Steve S]

There's a lot of sense in the article. The bottom doesn't mean we have a long haul but we COULD be there.

In the Shenandoah Valley the inventory of new homes has dwindled to almost nothing. The builders are gone except for some one here and there. We're seeing some competition in bids for bank owned properties being sold at great prices.

There's been a slight dip in inventory over the last month, maybe 5%, and residential sales in dollar volume for April 2008 versus April 2005 were at around 75%- 80% off.

Sales couldn't be much lower. We may have a long haul ahead of us and the pain may just really be beginining but we could be in the trough now.

[Paul L]

If we're going to talk about mortgages being the reason why the market is bottoming out, then we should discuss the reality of mortgages today. Gone are the days when a borrower can do 100% financing. We're back to the good old 20% down. Assuming the average house costs $200K, how many Americans have $40K sitting in the bank for the down payment, given that the average American spends more than he/she saves?

[Paul]

Not true that you need 20% down. You can find loans at this very moment at 5% down. The difference is that banks are stopping their drive by appraisals and actually checking out the quality of a home.
As an example, I am looking at a home that went to foreclosure with a loan of $140,000. The bank has determined that the property is worth less than $70,000 and that is strictly due to the inside of the property. No one should have given a loan of over $140,000 on this property in 2006. Not with 30 year old cabinets, flooring, foundation problems, etc...

[Jag]

Stop doing so much dust. You're hallucinating BIG TIME!!!