US Real Estate Ready to Bounce

The US housing market is showing some signs of stabilization as price declines ease, and demand improves, causing some US economists to call a “Bottom” in the worst real estate collapse since the 1930′s.

“The crash is over,” Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist, Mark Zandi, said in a interview that the “Crash is over.” He went on to say that home sales, both new and existing, and housing starts are now off the “Bottom.”

Data released yesterday by the US government showed better-than-estimated new-home sales and a slowdown in price declines are bolstering optimism that the market is poised for a sustainable recovery.

Economists are predicting prices are close to the “Bottom of the Curve” after a 35% slump from a July 2006 high, even as the threat of more foreclosures loom to enlarge the supply.

Values in 20 US cities fell 3.5% in February, the smallest 12-month drop since February 2011, the S&P/Case-Shiller index showed Tuesday.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s home-price index, which measures properties with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, had a 0.4% rise for the same period, according to a separate report.

New US homes sold at an annual pace of 328,000 in March, + 7.5% from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said.

The median estimate in a news media survey forecast a rate of 319,000. The pace of sales for February was revised upward to 353,000, a 2 yr high.

A report on consumer confidence yesterday showed the most important signal that housing can only go up. The Conference Board said its confidence index was at 69.2 in April, compared with a revised 69.5 in March.

Beneath the headline number, an important indicator was that consumers said jobs are easier to find, .

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) will likely say Thursday that the number of Americans signing contracts to buy previously owned homes rose 1% in March, according to the median estimate of 43 economists surveyed. That puts the pending home-sales index close to a 2-yr high.

Robert Shiller, a Yale University economics professor and co-creator of the Case-Shiller home-price index, said prices may be poised to fall further.

rong>Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr.

Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr. writes and publishes The Red Roadmaster’s Technical Report on the US Major Market Indices, a weekly, highly-regarded financial market letter, read by opinion makers, business leaders and organizations around the world.

Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr has studied the global financial and stock markets since 1984, following a successful business career that included investment banking, and market and business analysis. He is a specialist in equities/commodities, and an accomplished chart reader who advises technicians with regard to Major Indices Resistance/Support Levels.

Source: http://www.livetradingnews.com/us-real-estate-ready-to-bounce-71777.htm