Housing prices plummeting in major cities
The bad housing news shows no sign of letting up. A key housing report released this week brought yet another blast of grim news regarding the once-booming, now-busting housing industry.
According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Index, housing prices in 20 major U.S. cities plummeted by nearly 20 percent in December of 2008. when compared to the same month one year earlier. You can read the grim news here at the Web home of Bloomberg News.
Housing prices dropped 18.5 percent in December of 2008 when compared to prices one year earlier. This is the fastest drop that the Case-Shiller Index has ever recorded. This index, though, has long brought bad news to anyone hoping to sell a home for a high price. It’s recorded drops in housing values every month from January of 2007.
Is there any hope on the horizon? I suppose that depends on whether you have faith in Pres. Barack Obama and his administration. The president has pledged $275 billion to help provide a much-needed boost to the housing market. This figure includes $75 billion to encourage mortgage lenders to modify existing loans to help homeowners facing foreclosure keep their homes.
The remaining $200 billion will be funneled to the government-created mortgage providers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to make sure that enough mortgage funds are available to those people who want to apply for mortgage loans.
I’m trying to be optimistic regarding the housing market. I’ve spoken to many real estate professionals who still insist that housing values will begin rising again in early 2010. They also predict that housing sales will begin inching up to healthier numbers around that time, too.
But as the bad news continues to come, and continues to come at such a rapid pace, I wonder. Are these housing industry analysts right? Or should we instead believe those gloomier analysts out there, those who are predicting that the housing crash is still in its early stages, that the recovery is still far, far in the future?
For all our sakes, I’m hoping the optimistic analysts are right. But I certainly wouldn’t bet the mortgage — if you still have one, that is — on it.
