The news about the economy and the housing market changes almost every day. There is good news one day and bad news the next day and now one source is saying that another source has been giving us inaccurate numbers. See Did Realtors Inflate Home Sales by 1.6 million in 2010? There are also some reports that seem overly pesamistic and lead me to question the numbers like yesterdays story on Reuters: Home prices may fall by up to 25 percent.
The truth is the housing market crash started in late 2006 in the Twin Cities but we did not really feel it until mid 2007. Real estate is local and the numbers are better in some parts of the country and worse in others. National numbers are important but they may not reflect what is going on in this market.
There is another dynamic at play here and that is the idea that if we put out a lot of positive news about the real estate market home prices and home sales will improve. There are people who believe that perception drives our economy.
There is occasionally good news about the housing market and I have been reading since 2008 about how there are signs of recovery in the economy and in the housing market. Most of us are not seeing those signs but life goes on, people move and homes are bought and sold every day. I don’t expect that the market will recover in 2011 but I do expect a lot of stories in the news about recovery.
Well said Teresa. As a Realtor(R) from Way out of your market, I can verify that the only numbers that make any difference to your local buyer are the numbers reflected by sales in the neighborhood. The national numbers are important to those with national interests like manufacturers of housing products, management of national realty concerns etc.
But when it comes time to buy a home, the only numbers of value are the local comps and the interest rate and terms quoted by the buyer’s lender. You do a very good job of keeping your market up on the local stats. Best of success.
“There is another dynamic at play here and that is the idea that if we put out a lot of positive news about the real estate market home prices and home sales will improve. There are people who believe that perception drives our economy.”
In my opinion, this is really a key point in driving up real estate — building hope and optimism.
There are many who share your view. I believe that optimism is fueled by jobs and that in turn helps the housing market.
Hi Teresa,
We need JOBS, JOBS, JOBS – for a full recovery. But it seems like the only thing the tea party is interested in is union-busting.
In our area – the high end with bankers and Wall Street gang doing great – means the high end is rockin. But the entry level????
Scary for the housing market. Scary for society – we are truly becoming a banana republic of rich and poor. But that’s not a real estate topic. Its just so RAW and obvious in our area…
. . and the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer and the middle class is vanishing . . that is more than I should say Ruthmarie.
The unions need to be constrained. They have coaxed unsustainable compensation from the private sector using less than above-board means.
It is a question of WHEN, not IF the unions take major hits.
The money is not there.
Besides, breaking the chokehold that that public employees have put on private citizens will improve the economy.
For some reason, the craven public sector employees think they are entitled to be the new “haves” while the private sector moves toward poverty.
Anyway, houses still way overpriced all over.
You are funny. 🙂 welcome back.
Theresa-
Part of the reason the middle class is vanishing is because all of their productivity is being siphoned off to compensate the unproductive government sector. Rich pay, gold-plated pensions and free health care for many public employees, while the private sector must do without.
And the public employees will not take even a tiny cut to keep states solvent.
Let’ not forget the Obama bank bailouts that just keep going. GM bailout, you name it.
But instead of learning from history, we have people reacting with histrionics to the Tea Party, about which most of them know nothing.
The bank bail started before Obama took office and I don’t think there was any way he could have stopped them.