Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Babagounj" data-source="post: 836051" data-attributes="member: 12952"><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/housing-crash-is-getting-worse-2011-05-09?link=MW_latest_news" target="_blank">http://www.marketwatch.com/story/housing-crash-is-getting-worse-2011-05-09?link=MW_latest_news</a>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; BOSTON (MarketWatch) — If you thought the housing crisis was bad, think again. &nbsp; &nbsp; Average home prices are down 8% from a year ago, 3% over the quarter,&nbsp; and are falling at about 1% every month, according to Zillow.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; And the percentage of homeowners in negative-equity positions — with a&nbsp; home worth less than its mortgage — has rocketed to 28%, a new crisis&nbsp; high.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Zillow now predicts prices will fall about 8% this year and says it no longer expects the market to bottom before 2012. What a foolish boondoggle those tax breaks for home buyers have turned&nbsp; out to be. The government spent an estimated $22 billion between 2008&nbsp; and 2010 on tax breaks to prop up the housing market. All it achieved&nbsp; was a brief suckers’ rally that ended last summer.“As we said at the time, it was a giant waste of money,” says Mark&nbsp; Calabria, economist at the conservative Cato Institute. “None of these&nbsp; things really turned the housing market around. They just put off the&nbsp; adjustment for awhile.”</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Babagounj, post: 836051, member: 12952"] [url]http://www.marketwatch.com/story/housing-crash-is-getting-worse-2011-05-09?link=MW_latest_news[/url] BOSTON (MarketWatch) — If you thought the housing crisis was bad, think again. Average home prices are down 8% from a year ago, 3% over the quarter, and are falling at about 1% every month, according to Zillow. And the percentage of homeowners in negative-equity positions — with a home worth less than its mortgage — has rocketed to 28%, a new crisis high. Zillow now predicts prices will fall about 8% this year and says it no longer expects the market to bottom before 2012. What a foolish boondoggle those tax breaks for home buyers have turned out to be. The government spent an estimated $22 billion between 2008 and 2010 on tax breaks to prop up the housing market. All it achieved was a brief suckers’ rally that ended last summer. “As we said at the time, it was a giant waste of money,” says Mark Calabria, economist at the conservative Cato Institute. “None of these things really turned the housing market around. They just put off the adjustment for awhile.” [/QUOTE]

Verification