Real Estate Outlook: Balancing the News
Sometimes bad economic news comes at you so hard and fast that you forget to notice some of the more encouraging trends that may be underway, like super low mortgage rates, record-setting affordability, new tax credits, and big sales increases in the boom-to-bust real estate markets of Florida, California and Nevada. Now, this is not to brush aside or minimize any of last week's sobering national economic news. Consumer confidence is way down and it's a serious psychological impediment to home buying. Rising unemployment is scary. And the fact remains, someone won't consider buying if they are afraid of losing their job. And of course shaky banks and big losses on Wall Street are all part of the same worrisome picture. There are, however, some genuinely positive developments out there. Let's start with housing affordability. What will ultimately get the turnaround ball rolling will be the ability of ordinary consumers, in large numbers, to afford to buy a home with thei...