How Healthy is the Housing Market?
by Tom on October 27, 2009
in Market Musings, banks, house prices
Uh, probably about as healthy as a kidney patient on dialysis. As long as the treatment continues, he’s fine, but……
Stay tuned for the latest on the tax credit…..
Tom
Market Talk » Blog Archive » We May Soon Find Out Just How Strong The Housing Market Really Is
Rumors circulating that Congress probably won’t extend the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, which is one of the things weighing on the market today (but, let’s face it, is ultimately the right thing to do.)Research firm ISI Group has the details:
“There could be an agreement reached as early today on the Reid/Baucus amendment that would PHASE OUT (not extend, as we originally understood when the idea was first proposed last week) the home buyer tax credit,” ISI analysts said in the note. “The phase out is worse than a straight extension and probably worse for housing than the consensus.”
As we detailed earlier, recent housing starts and existing home sales data have been better-than-expected largely on the basis of the generous tax credit. Growth can arguably be attributed to the credit, meaning the recent trends become irrelevant if the credit doesn’t get extended.
