It should be impossible for housing to get worse, but then it does.
Pending home sales fell 7.7% in January, according to the National Association of Realtors.
The index now sits at 80.4, the lowest level since the tracking started in 2001.
Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the data is that home affordability hit an all time high. NAR President Charles McMillan, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Dallas-Fort Worth, said it’s ironic with the weak housing market that affordability conditions have improved dramatically. “Housing affordability is at a record high – the buying power of a typical family has risen significantly.”
The fact of the matter is that people are frightened out of their minds and deeply concerned about losing their jobs. Nothing the federal government has done so far seems to have alleviated that.
There is no way to sugar-coat the fact that while unemployment is rising, housing will not rebound.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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