Real Estate Outlook - View From The Top

Last week I attended a lecture by Dr. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors. He showed over 40 charts and graphs describing the mechanics of the recent real estate market and what's to come. He demonstrated why he thinks the worst is behind us and why he predicts a relatively stable market over the next year or two. In some markets, prices will continue to drop by single digits while in others prices have already begun to climb. He predicts a 2-3% price appreciation nationally in 2010.
An interesting fact he brought to the table relates to new home sales. Builders are unable to get financing for new construction, which means housing starts are way down. I believe that's an important fact to note - when we hear in the media that new home sales are down, we should understand that it's because there are fewer new homes on the market. Demand is not necessarily down, but supply is. In Ridgewood for instance there are only two new homes listed for sale and one one of them is not yet built.
To download a copy of Dr. Yun's presentation, click here.