NYT: Housing Not Out of the Woods Yet
“Plenty of pain yet to come,” is how one economist summed it up in an article in the New York Times this morning about the country’s housing market. The article’s main point is that the improving data we’ve seen over the past three months may very well be a head-fake rather than the first leg…
“Plenty of pain yet to come,” is how one economist summed it up in an article in the New York Times this morning about the country’s housing market. The article’s main point is that the improving data we’ve seen over the past three months may very well be a head-fake rather than the first leg of a recovery:
Artificially low interest rates and a government tax credit are luring buyers, but both those inducements are scheduled to end. Defaults and distress sales are rising in the middle and upper price ranges. And millions of people have lost so much equity that they are locked into their homes for years, a modern variation of the Victorian debtor’s prison that is freezing a large swath of the market.
Closer to home, the data from Case-Shiller show that New York City is still holding up relatively well, with prices down just 10 percent over the last year, as compared to 30 percent in Las Vegas and 15 percent in Seattle.
Fears of a New Chill in Home Sales [NY Times]
Graph from the New York Times
And for the next three weeks I am both. Very handy in debates.
You guys are joking, right? Lots of renters at Brownstoner gatherings. At least half, maybe more.
What are you all smoking? The housing crisis is over, just like that! Reason? DIBs the money manager living in the ghetto said so! As a bonus, the forums’ 300 sq foot owning official “Liason to the Stars” 11217 agrees.
I would just like to point out that renters with kids are the vast majority of people in Brooklyn. I guess that’s pretty obvious. About two-thirds of my neighbors are renters with kids, and the other third own the building they live in. Most of them are plumbers, handymen, own laundromats or small stores, construction workers, movers, work for Verizon or National Grid, electricians, drive a car service, etc. Quite a bit of talent on my block, makes me feel safe.
> Social network that…um, I’m not part of.
No homo joe?
JTB, maybe a better idea is to crash their cozy homeowners’ get togethers. we bitter renters can show up with our pitch forks. This bstoner website is a microcosm for the class struggle that is on going in the rest of the country. for the longest time, the republicans have pulled wools over our eyes with their promise of prosperity by getting us to deregulate and cut taxes, while what they have done is “re-distribute” wealth from the poor and middle class to the already wealthy. Real wages have stagnated for the past 30 years while the gap between the rich and poor is the widest it has ever been post second WW.
This is why i support Bill Thompson over slimy bloomberg. Bill will soak the rich and maybe get some of our money back.
***Bill Thompson for Mayor (Tuesday!!!)**
don’t they have get-togethers for everyone? we could just hoard some tables. I’ve been afraid of two things — first, obviously, getting my ass kicked by enraged homeowners. Second, well…I think there are some gentlemen using this site as a kind of social network that…um, I’m not part of. so, yeah, if you promise to call the cops if it gets out of hand let’s all go to the next b-stoner thing. It must be hilarious to see what people actually look like.
wasder — have you checked out “insideschools.org”? I’ve been pulling up some schools in there. Almost all of them seem to have 4 or 5 stars in reading or math, so I tend to ignore that. There are some other statistics on each school that can help you focus on what’s right for your kid. Plus, very helpful: you can click on a zone map.
joe, I think MM, BHO, DitmarsSnark, you and I should have a get together. We could even invite the What if you want. It will be our answer to the get togethers that the perma bulls have.