Some economists see real estate market bottoming out in 2008

It seems there’s bad news for the housing market every day: More mortgage resets are coming in the next year, lenders are tightening standards and homes continue to pour onto the market. All point to sinking home values in the near future.

There are plenty of statistics to warrant a gloomy outlook.

The National Association of Realtors says existing single-family home sales dropped 8.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.38 million in September, compared to a pace of 4.79 million in August. That rate is 19.8 percent below the 5.46 million-unit pace from September 2006. What’s more, the median existing single-family home price was $210,200 in September, down 4.9 percent from the same time last year.

Good news, bad news

There are also some encouraging signs, however. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, has said he believes home values may start recovering next year because significant demand has been accumulating. He says prices actually continue to trend upward in the Northeast, Midwest, throughout the condo sector and in areas that are not dependent on jumbo loans.

In the past two years, Yun says, more than 4 million new jobs have been created, wages have been rising and Americans accumulated $4 trillion in wealth through the stock market. He says that many people who may have been priced out of the market haven’t yet returned due to a lack of confidence and the continuing stream of bad news.

“Many people may just be wondering if it is better to buy later rather than now. Whether that is now or later, buyers are (and will be) able to re-enter the market at a more attractive price and a much larger selection of inventory,” Yun says. “Mortgage rates are still favorable.”

Slashing prices

As desperate sellers are forced to cut their asking prices and as home builders slash prices to get rid of excess inventory, Yun feels it is inevitable that some of those bargain shoppers will jump at offers and, in turn, slowly put upward pressure on sales and prices.

An early indicator that such a trend may be under way came in September when, according to a Commerce Department report, sales of new single-family homes actually rose 4.8 percent with a revised annual rate of 770,000, compared to a rate of 735,000 in the previous month, despite a drop in the median sales price of new homes from $232,100 to $230,000 from August to September.

NAR data from the second quarter of 2007 actually shows price increases in 97 of the 149 metropolitan statistical areas. Because high-population areas such as Florida, Nevada and California have led the downturn, it sometimes masks the fact that the overall market has remained stable throughout most of the country.

Yun says Utah has still seen growth and believes Texas is ripe for price gains because of its strong job growth. Much of the South — except for Florida — has remained stable. With declining inventories, he also expects Denver and Boston to switch to positive pricing in the near future.

“For the vast middle part of the country, we are actually seeing price increases. We found that only about one-third of the MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) were actually seeing prices contract,” Yun says.

Moody’s Economy.com economist Patrick McPherron isn’t so confident about a fast housing recovery and anticipates the market staying down at least through 2008. He says that a weakening in the economy and financial markets, combined with stricter guidelines for mortgage lending, will drive down demand.

The national homeownership rate peaked at 69.2 percent in 2004 and now stands at 68.2 percent. McPherron says that 1 percent difference may seem insignificant, but shows a steady decline and means that a lot more homes will likely go unsold.

Downward pressure continues

“There is constant pressure on supply that is just now starting to alleviate, and you have all these additional homes coming in because of foreclosures and short sales. You now have an enormous amount of supply facing restricted demand and prices have to come down (further),” says McPherron.

Paul Kasriel, chief economist with Northern Trust in Chicago, also anticipates further weakening in the housing market because of growing inventories. He also believes that the wave of foreclosures isn’t over and points to the $683 billion in subprime mortgages that are due to reset between now and the end of 2008. Those foreclosures will put even more homes on the market that will likely be sold at a discount by the creditors that take possession of the homes.

“I think you’ll see an increase in auctions with prices being slashed. I think prices are still going to be weakening for a while and it looks as though we’re only in the early stages of homeowners capitulating in terms of their asking prices,” says Kasriel.

While the housing downturn may not be good for the overextended homeowner or mortgage lender left holding the bag, many economists agree that it is healthy to make a transition to a housing market driven on fundamentals instead of speculation. McPherron says that in recent years, homes were being treated more as assets than consumption goods. That mind-set, combined with low interest rates and new mortgage innovations, including interest-only loans and teaser-rate adjustable mortgages, caused people to rush into houses not in search of shelter but high returns.

The waiting game

“The shift is going back toward the real value of the home because the price is so high that people are wondering if they should be in a home or if they could wait for a year for prices to come down,” says McPherron.