I would like to say that the UT has done a very good job reporting many aspects of the housing downturn especially compared to a couple of years ago. Now with that said I have a question, after reading this specific article and knowing what most of us know based on some pretty hard data that is provided on this website (you do a a great job Rich), does anybody feel that this article totally insults their intelligence??
I mean the fist part of the article meme is “the worst is over”. Yes sales volume has fallen to the levels not seen since the mid 1990’s and yes there are some foreclosures but Hey Look at the MEDIAN PRICE, it’s still holding pretty good. There was no mention that the Median Price is perhaps not an accurate measuring tool especially compared to others like the Case Shiller Index. There was not one mention of the credit markets and ARM resets in this article, not one. There was no mention of affordability. In my book that is just irresponsible reporting.
The second part of the article does illustrate how bad some of these foreclosures are becoming and there really is no let up in sight. All in all this is a fluff piece and how John Karevoll says this
“As perceptions change and buyers understand that what they’re buying will keep its value or go up, you should see between now and the end of the year the number of sales tick up off this floor level,” Karevoll said. “The big IF there is what happens in the broader economy. The big one there is mortgage interest rates.”
OK now we are approaching Gary Watts territory.
“Union Bank of California senior economist Keitaro Matsuda, though, said that concerns about foreclosures dragging down overall home prices may be misplaced. So far “prices don’t seem to be affected all that much.”
Yes we will have sales volume drop off the cliff and we will see a record number of foreclosures but THERE WILL BE NO IMPACT ON PRICES……..let me repeat that…. THERE WILL BE NO IMPACT ON PRICES…..GOT THAT…GOOD
