My OperaJust checking the Look
Monday, September 25, 2006 4:53:01 PM
David Lereah, chief economist of the association, said he expects prices to continue to fall. “We do expect an adjustment in home prices to last several months, as we work through a buildup in the inventory of homes on the market,” he said in a written statement. “This is the price correction we’ve been expecting — with sales stabilizing, we should go back to positive price growth early next year.”
At the end of August, there were enough unsold, previously owned homes on the market that it would take 7½ months to sell them all at the current sales pace. The association said that was a bigger backlog than at any time since April 1993.
“With inventory still rising, there is no chance of any short-term relief” for sellers, said Ian Shepherdson, chief United States economist with High Frequency Economics. “Prices and volumes have a long way to fall yet.”
The decline was sharpest in the West, where the volume of sales in August was 2.3 percent lower than in July and 22.8 percent lower than a year ago, in August 2oo5. Prices in the West held steady.
At the end of August, there were enough unsold, previously owned homes on the market that it would take 7½ months to sell them all at the current sales pace. The association said that was a bigger backlog than at any time since April 1993.
“With inventory still rising, there is no chance of any short-term relief” for sellers, said Ian Shepherdson, chief United States economist with High Frequency Economics. “Prices and volumes have a long way to fall yet.”
The decline was sharpest in the West, where the volume of sales in August was 2.3 percent lower than in July and 22.8 percent lower than a year ago, in August 2oo5. Prices in the West held steady.
