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Another sign of Economic Recovery: Housing market “Dropped off a cliff” in October

By Uppity Woman on November 20, 2009 at 5:00 PM in Current Affairs

Dropped off a cliff.

A cliff.

Things are fine! We PLANNED this! Honest!

It’s part of the Recovery! Now go watch Survivor.

The housing market dropped off a cliff in October, as the original Nov. 30th expiration date for the first-time home buyers tax credit approached, according to the Housing Market Monitor of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Add to that the 6.25% 60-day delinquency rate in the third quarter — 58% above the level of one year ago — and you’ve got a recipe for housing disaster: more foreclosures, slower sales and ultimately a greater decline in house prices.

“With unemployment virtually certain to remain high well into next year, there is little prospect for any sizable drop in foreclosures,” Dean Baker wrote in the Nov. 18 issue of the Housing Market Monitor. “As a result, foreclosures will be putting homes on the market at an annual rate of close to 2 million. This is guaranteed to depress prices in a market with total demand of close to 5 million. In short, house prices will almost certainly resume their decline. The only questions are how soon and how fast.”

I guess it doesn’t get more clear than that, does it?

Top that off with all the jobs the Obama Administration has saved in Congressional Districts that don’t actually exist and I just know our future is rosy and our gazillion dollar debt money has been spent wisely.

Baker’s findings were backed by today’s report on housing starts from the U.S. Commerce Department which showed housing starts decreased 10.6% to a seasonally adjusted 529,000 annual rate. This drop erased months of gains as uncertainty over the renewal of the tax credit increased buyers’ caution.

Well, isn’t that super???

Hey, I have an idea! Let’s give another Trillion to Wall Street and Bankers! Especially since this article also warns that interest rates are going to rise. On mortgages, not on your bank account, silly!

Still, houses are getting REALLY cheap though. If you had a job you could buy one. Sorry! But be patient. After all most of the people in charge right now at the White House never so much as ran a fruit stand in their lives. It’s a learning curve thing! Be patient. They’ll get it right after about three or four more trillion. Goldman Sachs is helping them out.