Market Trends and Condition

read it here

http://www.thedailycrux.com/content/8382/Housing

read it all here

http://www.thedailycrux.com/content/8686/Housing/eml

so be careful

In a turn-around from the first quarter drop of 4.1%, the second quarter Case-Shiller Home Price Index rose 3.6% nationally, the composite index of the 20 metropolitan areas tracked. However, this is still a 5.9% annual decline. Nationally, home prices are now back at their early 2003 levels. Here are the stats for the 20 Metropolitan Areas the index tracks:

Metropolitan Area - June to May Change - 1-Year Change

Atlanta 1.5% -4.9%
Boston 2.4% -2.1%
Charlotte 2.0% -4.1%
Chicago 3.2% -7.4%
Cleveland 1.5% -6.1%
Dallas 1.4% -4.3%
Denver 1.6% -2.5%

The National Association of Realtors almost never has a bad home-buying day. Their 20 year mantra has been it’s ALWAYS a great time to buy a home. And, if they would just add the “for some people” onto that phrase, they’d be correct. It’s currently a great time to buy a rental property, and investors are doing just that to take advantage of rising demand and rents.

Just another example of the government being involved with something they should have kept their noses out of and now we pay pay the price...again.

Read the whole story here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44375023/ns/business-us_business/

There are very few incidences of the government's well intentioned directions that have ever worked out. Will they ever learn?

This is not a good thing from a historical viewpoint. We need real buyers, not more investors to be buying homes. Investors, en masse, are a weak hand and will capitulate if more real buyers don't appear soon.

Read the whole story:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44267325/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

Three years later this stuff is still making the big headlines. Until it is washed out of the system, banks will not be loosening their grip on loans.

Read the whole story here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44366983/ns/business-us_business/

This is what is stopping the growth cycle to housing to begin. It is the first time since 1945 that government has reported net monthly job change of zero.

Read the whole story here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44370462/ns/business/

RealtyTrac reports that foreclosure sales made up roughly one-third of all home sales in the spring. That share dropped from the previous quarter, but is still around six times what is considered normal for a healthy housing market.

U.S. consumer confidence crumbled in August to its lowest level in more than two years as the fallout from political wrangling over a budget deal took its toll, according to a private sector report released Tuesday.

Read the whole story here:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44325909