David Wilson of Bloomberg takes a crack at the Housing turnaround story:
Persistently high foreclosure rates show the U.S. housing industry is “bouncing along the bottom” even though sale prices are recovering.
The chart above, via strategist Pierre Lapointe of Brockhouse & Cooper, shows the percentage of foreclosed home loans little changed from the 4.3% average for 2009. (Data source: Mortgage Bankers Association).
A spate of recent positive data following the usual seasonal pattern continues to give false hope to homeowners, banks and REO buyers. The front page of the NYT today was the latest to declare the recovery was at hand.
The problem is that the Banks had voluntarily stopped their foreclosures while negotiating the robo-signing settlement. They are now poised “to flood the market with foreclosed homes.” Their distressed sales are likely to pressure prices.
“A meaningful and sustained increase in house prices is still several years away. In other words, it is still too early to get excited.”
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