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Housing Rebound Ahead?

The latest housing headlines come from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), which is reporting that home sales and prices in 2007 will decline more that originally forecasted before picking up later in the year. A month ago, the NAR predicted that existing home sales would decline 2.9% and home prices would drop only 1%. Now, the Association is calling for a 4.6% decline in existing home sales to 6.18 million units. They also forecast that the U.S. median existing home price will fall 1.3% to $219,100. The NAR is also revising its new home numbers. The median price for new homes will fall 2.3% to $240,800 with new home sales declining 18.2% to 860,000 units. Last month, they predicted new home prices would remain unchanged with sales totaling 864,000 units. The trade group, representing more than 1.3 million real estate professionals, has revised its forecasts downward several times since the beginning of the new year. The NAR continues to predict the first annual decline in the median national existing home price since it began compiling data in the late 1960s.

However, the National Association of Realtors did offer a glimmer of hope for the beleaguered housing sector. “Home sales will probably fluctuate in a narrow range in the short run, but gradually trend upward with improving activity by the end of the year,” says Lawrence Yun, an economist for the trade group. In 2008, existing home sales are projected to rise 3.7% to 6.41 million units. The national median existing home price is forecast to rise 1.7%. The median new home price is expected to rise 2.6% next year as well.

It is still too early for the National Association of Realtors to call an end to the housing bottom. The sub-prime mortgage debacle has led to a tightening of lending standards, making it impossible for a growing number of potential homeowners to get credit. Also, the rising number of foreclosed properties is adding more supply to the inventory glut. ZipRealty Inc., a national real estate brokerage firm based in California, just released a report showing the number of homes listed for sale in 18 major U.S. metropolitan areas at the end of May was up 5.1% from the previous month. This is important because on a national basis, housing inventories have typically remained unchanged in May over the last two decades, reflecting the fact that May is a peak home-selling month as families are moving during the summer vacation. The growing inventory of unsold homes will continue to put downward pressure on prices as well as sales, since the remaining buyers will hold off until better bargains come along.