Now is the time to be in the market folks. No one knows when the market is going to turn, but we are slowly starting to hear that the bottom has been hit or is close. There are great buying opportunities for those active and diligent investors.
Here is a quote from the Director of the office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. I’ve also included some home pricing information that I found interesting. As you can see, home prices are way off from a year ago and deals are there for the taking. One note is the prices have fallen significantly, but rents have not. Homes that a year ago would not cash flow now may very well cash flow with the lower acquisition price.
OFHEO Director: Markets Shows Improvement
There are “some good signs” that the severe downturn in U.S. housing markets might be approaching an end, says James Lockhart, director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.
“It’s going to take a while, but we’re starting to see some bottoms,” Lockhart says. “It may take another six months or so, but hopefully we’ll start pulling out of it.”
But, Lockhart says, the idea of freezing mortgage rates would be a mistake to recovery. Presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton had proposed the idea of a rate freeze.
“You’d really cause market dislocation. … I think we’re going to have to let the market work,” Lockhart told CNBC television in response. “Interest rates have come down dramatically, and people are going to be able to refinance.”
Source: Reuters News (03/28/08)
1 yr price change from January ’07 – January ’08
Atlanta -4.8%
Boston -3.4%
Charlotte 1.8%
Chicago -6.6%
Cleveland -8.5%
Dallas -3.3%
Denver -5.1%
Detroit -15.1%
Las Vegas -19.3%
Los Angeles -16.5%
Miami -19.3%
Minneapolis -10.0%
New York -5.8%
Phoenix -18.2%
Portland -0.5%
San Diego -16.7%
San Francisco -13.2%
Seattle -1.3%
Tampa -15.0%
Washington -10.9%
Source: Standard and Poors and Fiserv
Posted by Carter Brown
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