National Prices Fall 18%, New York Further to Go
Along with yesterday’s headline that houses in the nation’s 20 largest cities fell an average of 18 percent year-over-year in October was the news that single-family homes in the New York metropolitan area declined a more modest 7.5 percent. (The 20-city index has now fallen more than 23 percent since its July 2006 peak.) Reason…
Along with yesterday’s headline that houses in the nation’s 20 largest cities fell an average of 18 percent year-over-year in October was the news that single-family homes in the New York metropolitan area declined a more modest 7.5 percent. (The 20-city index has now fallen more than 23 percent since its July 2006 peak.) Reason to cheer? Not exactly, says the Wall Street Journal:
Markets where price declines have been slightest may be in worse shape, because prices still have further to fall before enough buyers step in to bring housing activity to normal. Meanwhile, heavy foreclosure activity in hard-hit areas like Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Diego are bringing prices into equilibrium. Those cities may be closer to a turnaround…In the language of Wall Street, with asking prices not dropping to levels where bidders will pick them, the market isn’t “clearing.”
The Journal article goes on to say that New York City’s slower decline resembles past patterns: It took three years between 1988 and 1991 for prices to fall just 15 percent. This go-round, “the price decline may be far more severe,” the article predicts. “Right now, people are still living on last year’s bonus,” says Barclays Capital economist Ethan Harris, who is based in New York. “You can sort of feel the local economy on the edge of a cliff.”
New York, Boston Prices Expected to Fall Further [WSJ – Sub]
Home Prices Fell at Their Sharpest Pace in October [NY Times]
Local Home Prices Fall 7.5% [NY Post]
Should we outlaw finance people?
What exactly to ‘finance people’ do anyway?
If finance people do not contribute to society… if they just give us “usury, corruption, wars and materialism,” then I don’t see why are they allowed to continue doing what they do. I mean you can make money by stealing too, but we outlaw that.
RE prices have probably already been affected by vastly chnage bonus expectatations. The real other shoe is everything else people won’t be buying with and taxes they won’t be paying on that $10 billion(?) that doesn’t get paid in January. The bell tolls for thee.
Dave,
Thanks for that Thatcher quote, great!
It is quite applicable to our current financial situation even though we do not consider ourselves a Socialist society.
But the rub is this. When poor people are hurting we are a capitalist society that believes in hard work, self-reliance, and picking yourself up by the bootstraps. When bank moguls are hurting, we can’t throw money at them fast enough, after all, the crisis is real, they need our help. Are we screwed up or what?
I have to agree with FatLenny. No one, over the past 3 months can be actively looking for a house with expectations of paying for it with a Jan or Feb bonus. Those people are out of the market.
I find it very hard to believe that NY RE prices are being buoyed by last year’s bonuses. Those who haven’t been laid off are certainly expecting slashed bonuses across the board this year. It seems to me that this effect has already hit the economy in terms of lack of real spending and consumer confidence. I don’t think this is a very valid argument for why NY is not seeing the same RE price declines.
DIBS.
I am HARDLY a socialist, but Thanks for the quote.
“The problem with the TARP is that you eventually run out of other peoples’ money.” – Hanky Panky
Should have proofread for spelling and grammar, sorry (e.g. “you’re not valued” not “your”)…