New reports suggest slow down in housing market recovery | Mount Kisco Real Estate
ALISON STEWART: For a few years now, we’ve been hearing a great deal about the nation’s housing recovery. But recent reports suggest that trend might be slowing. If it is, it could have a significant impact on the nation’s overall economic health. For more about this, we’re joined now by Michelle Conlin, she’s a senior correspondent with Reuters. And Michelle, the reports everybody’s sort of taking a look at, they say that existing home sales are at their lowest in about 18 months of July 2012 and new home sales are down by about 14 percent as compared with this time last year. So what’s happening in the past 12 to 18 months.
MICHELLE CONLIN: Well, one thing that’s happening, is that in order to have a health housing market you have to have a healthy first-time buyers group. I mean, first time buyers are the engine of the housing market and they have virtually been locked out of this market by various things. I mean one thing that they’ve been locked out by is pretty tight lending standards, I mean we’re hearing about credit easing but if you’re going to go to a bank to get a mortgage, it’s still pretty darn tough to get one. Also, they’re being locked out by high prices, inventory is really low so prices are getting bid up. And you know a lot of these first time buyers are millennials, and a lot of millennials have a lot of student debt and if you’re paying off student debt. That’s virtually the equivalent of a mortgage payment right there and so it’s hard to take on another mortgage payment if you’re gonna buy a house.
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