Lereah @ Nardi Gras
Lereah and his fellow Realtors are at the annual National Assocation of Realtors convention. This year they are down in New Orleans. Last year New Orleans was underwater, this year many homeowners are underwater on thier mortgage.
To cheer up up grumpy Realtors, who pay Mr. Lereah's salary, he offered hope.
"We need a price decline, we were overbloated," particularly on the West Coast, David Lereah, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, told attendees at his organization's annual meeting here on Friday.Mr. Lereah, the discredited chief
"In 2007, it will be a flat year, maybe 1 percent [sales] drop, and that's it," Lereah said. "After 2007, we'll be back to expansion again."
Lereah forecast that 2006 sales will end up about 9 percent lower than in 2005, a record year. He anticipates sales of 6.47 million units, declining to 6.43 million next year. Prices nationwide will be down by about 2 percent, year over year, and will inch up by 1.5 percent in 2007, he said.
New-home sales will decline this year by 16.8 percent, to 1.07 million units, and will sink 8.7 percent further next year, to 975,000, he said.
Lereah said inventory is stabilizing, citing his trade group's data on pending sales--homes that have gone under contract.
"It appears that inventory has peaked," said Lereah, who now estimates a 7.3 month supply of available homes nationwide.
"We were hovering near four to five months' [supply of homes for sale] during the boom, and in some areas, such as Orange County, Calif., we were measuring it in weeks, not months."
But Lereah said the national picture is positive. "I'm optimistic for 74 percent of the country," where local markets are, at worst, flat. The other 26 percent are in for some rough times."
Struggling the most would be California, South Florida, Arizona, Nevada, and metro Washington, D.C., he said, where sellers need to lower their prices.
posted by David @ 7:46 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I would also recommend checking out the NARdi Gras blog and other industry blogs that they link to:
http://narblog1.realtors.org/mvtype/annual/
Lereah's BS is contagious... and corny realtor dorks are particularly susceptible. Did you know they are the number one campaign donaters in the country? No surprise they send more money to Republicans.
Check out their blogs and bombard them with your comments.
"The corrupt and discredited Dr. David Lereah sez: "We need a price decline, we were overbloated," particularly on the West Coast, David Lereah, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, told attendees at his organization's annual meeting here on Friday."
Yes, we're through the looking glass now. The housing bubble becomes "overbloat." Panicked sellers become "flexible." The housing crash becomes a "soft landing." The unstable housing market becomes "balanced."
According to Dr. Lereah's jabberwocky speech, an "overbloated" housing market -- one in which prices decline -- is good for both sellers and buyers. Sellers get to watch the equity in their houses vanish, while buyers are afraid to purchase a house whose value is rapidly declining.
The The National Ass. of Realtors has launched a $40 million ad campaign with the slogan "It's A Great Time To Buy Or Sell A Home." There is a real paradox at work here, because there are great times to buy and there are great times to sell, but there is never a great time to do both simultaneously.
Carol Lloyd's column SURREAL ESTATE in the real estate section of Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle has called attention to the absurdity of the ad that the NAR ran in newspapers from coast to coast. Her column dissects all of the ad's wild assumptions and asinine predictions. It makes for a good read. Quite frankly, I'm surprised that the newspaper actually ran the column.
Once again, Dr. Lereah has proven himself to be a lying scumbag, with the ethics of a dope-dealing pimp. He will say anything in an attempt to generate commissions for his stable of Realtor whores.
Lereah Quote of the Week
From Newsweek:
"You'd have to go back to the Great Depression to find a housing period that is this unique."
ALL REALESTATE PRICES ARE "LOCAL".
Most of the comments are attempting to make their local prices have a national impact. This is not true and 75% of the housing markets are doing just fine.
Areas where speculative buying was 40% of the sales are hurting, go figure. This was never a real price market. Like the condo that went up $60,000 before it was built. There was never a $60,000 profit available, no condo product, no condo sale, no sale profit.
Prices being asked do not equate to sales price at some point of time. If speculation drives markets up, reality drives prices down.
The rush to follow behavior created the dotcom and speculation house decline. If everyone is buying a specific product, it is was probably time to sell a month ago.
I've been fascinated by this often quoted lackey for months, and then searched him on Google. I found him here. Thank goodness someone else was tracking his non-sense, I thought it was only me that could not believe the things that come out of his mouth.
This guy reminds me of the Iraqi propaganda minister. God I miss that guy. Glad we have DL to take his place.
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