Say Goodbye to the Housing Slump!
That's the message in a Wall Street Journal article a couple of days ago. They took a look at the economy as a whole and came to the conclusion that the worst may be over.
- Mortgage applications for purchases and refinancings have been growing steadily since last summer. This is an overall trend reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association which does a mortgage-application survey every week. As with any economic trend, you can't just look at what happened last week – you have to take the long view to understand trends.
- New home sales are picking up, and the trend has been continuing since July. This indicates that demand is stabilizing. There is still about a six-month inventory of new homes, but in July it was more than seven months.
- How many people who buy a home also buy new appliances? Trucks carry those stoves and refrigerators from the factory to the distributor.
- What about all that new carpeting, paint, and the draperies for the windows?
- And then there's the landscaping, perhaps a new pool or deck, and the design professionals who stage the house for sale.
- And that's not even including the people directly involved in a transaction – the inspectors, appraisers, and title professionals.
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