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
no stevie it hasn’t happened yet. Little B is due in Becember. But I’m afraid to pay a premium to buy in 321 and then get shunted into another zone. I think if your kid is already in the school you get a variance, but I would take 5 years of risk.
and yes I’m definitely a net payer in the tax picture. come hang out the next time the subject of affordable housing comes up!!
It is great to have MM, BHO, JTB, DitmarsSnark, on this thread so we could all have a nice conversation without the perma bulls chiming in.
Miss Muffett, where would be a safe zone? PS 58, 107, 39 or 29?
Joe if you are contemplating buying in 321 I would be concerned about the zone changing – and for that matter, other popular schools. Alas, the popular schools are getting more crowded and the prospect of rezoning is definitely under discussion. It’s very thorny and complicated but I would be concerned too.
joe, how could that happen? sorry to hear about the school zone. do they have a right to do that?
“Wasder – I’m genuinely curious – what are you planning to do about school? You have little ones, I know, but are they school age? We already have our oldest in public school so probably don’t want to buy too far from where we’re currently renting (younger one may not get a variance) but every so often I think about a more radical change i.e. your neck of the woods, but what is the school deal there?”
My oldest is a couple of years away from public schooling but once she is going to kindergarten we will try to get her into PS 11 which is a few blocks away and gets good ratings. Failing that, there is an elementary school in Boerum Hill that I know some people send their kids to over here. So, barring PS 11, it would be a situation of finding an out of neighborhood school for her. I am hopeful about 11 however.
Joe, you still have my sympathy because you have not taken any money from me (or tax payers).
miss muffet, I’m in the same boat. I’ve got a little bummer on the way. I am worried about a related problem – having my school zone yanked out from under me after I purchase.
Wasder – I’m genuinely curious – what are you planning to do about school? You have little ones, I know, but are they school age? We already have our oldest in public school so probably don’t want to buy too far from where we’re currently renting (younger one may not get a variance) but every so often I think about a more radical change i.e. your neck of the woods, but what is the school deal there?