More Negative News on the Housing Front
More statistics came out yesterday showing that the air is continuing to leak out of the nation’s housing bubble. The National Association of Realtors reported that in July sales of previously owned homes hit their lowest level in more than two years, while prices flattened and houses sat on the market longer; not surprisingly, the…

More statistics came out yesterday showing that the air is continuing to leak out of the nation’s housing bubble. The National Association of Realtors reported that in July sales of previously owned homes hit their lowest level in more than two years, while prices flattened and houses sat on the market longer; not surprisingly, the supply of unsold houses also hit a record high. The question the experts can’t seem to agree on? Whether we’re in for a soft or hard landing. Regardless, it seems like a safe thing to predict that the results will vary greatly by local market.
New Signs of Cooling in Housing [NY Times]
I disagree with the comment that the pool of buyers is depleted.
I just rented out an apartment in a townhouse that I manage, and I was inundated with prospective tenants, many of whom said they were biding their time to buy. They think the market is slowing down– as this thread suggests– and they’re pooling their resources to buy when prices come down a bit. And many of them have huge resources already– which is why rents are rising so quickly.
also, let’s not forget you don’t just flip real estate… you also live in it. if you bought a nice condo that you are comfortable in, why is that so terrible. the alternative is throwing money away in rent, which is skyrocketing.
It depends which condo buildings you are talking about. All new condo buildings in Brooklyn were not created equal and all DEFINITELY are not crappy. It will be interesting to see how the new Richard Meier building on Grand Army Plaza will do once complete, it will be interesting to see how a special builing like One Hanson does too (has anyone here even been inside One Hanson, the model apartment is beautiful). As for existing condos, if you bought in some of the nicer *in demand* areas, e.g. DUMBO, I don’t see why you’d fare so much worse than if you bought a nice condo in Manhattan.
“Hmmmmmmm i wonder why?”
Because most of the people that were going to buy bought already. We have seen a ton of people buying these past 3 years who would have been renting and starting to think about buying now – but since they’ve already bought…you get the picture. So we are seriously short of buyers – we have borrowed too heavily from the pool of future buyers.
I understand that condos will probably be in trouble, but what about those 2 & 3 family Fedder specials? How will they do? I’m glad I got rid of mine at the right time in 2005. Overall, I feel if you purchase a house as a primary residence and not an investment, you can ride it out. Does anyone agree?
RE 12:14 & progress (?) – will the name of this site have to change to http://www.crappycondoer.com as the c.c.’s overwhelm the brownstones?
Here’s a good little article, notice the slight discounts from asking:
http://www.nysun.com/article/38450
Funny thing is Townhouse prices are dropping but not many are talking about it. They are staying on the market forever also. Ex: 229 bergen st, 187 sterling place, 120 carroll st, 459 henry st, 525 clinton st, and sooooo many othes, but no one is talking about them. Hmmmmmmm i wonder why?
The condos are without a doubt done, if you bought one in the last 3 years than sorry. But the Townhome market will hold on better but i think it will still drop , it is a matter of economics, things cant go up forever. people must face the truth.