Have We Seen The Bottom of the Housing market?

Have we seen the bottom of the housing market? Personally and professionally I don't like to get into the guessing game, in my opinion it is unprofessional to try and predict the unpredictable. I know no more what the housing market or stock market or even swine market as far as that goes will do tomorrow than the next guy. What I do know however is what has happened and what the professionals report possible will happen. I look at that data and try to figure how to best help my clients make informed decisions.



Given that premise, I pose the question "Have we seen the bottom of the housing market yet?" based on the following information:



The North Carolina National Association of Realtors (NCNAR) reported that "for the first time in 5 years, existing home sales have increased four months in a row." Additionally, a report released from the Wall Street Journal this week reports that recent data from the U.S. suggests that the housing market has bottomed out. They base this on statistics that show a 7.2% increase on exisiting home sales year to date. Additionally, new home sales have gone from 380,000 a month annualized to 400,000 a month and are highly expected to hit 500,000 a month annualized in the next few months. The WSJ report claims they beleive this to be because of governemtnt loans being loosened up.



At it's peak between 2002 - 2007, 50% of the home loans were from Freddie May and Freddie Mac, dropping down to 40% by the years end in 2007. Now we are seeing an increse back up to 50%, indicating the government is letting loose of some of the housing loan funds.



So you decided. New homes sales are up, exisiting home sales are up, but the appreciate of homes seem to still be decreasing or at the very best holding low (see an earlier blog posting on this subject last week.) So does two ups and one down make a market that is shifting in the positive direction? You decide.

"Because Integrity Does Matter!"