Today is a bad day for housing market news. Remember the halcyon Curbed days of H&M and Famima!!? Unfortunately, the bad news on housing keeps coming up in our news feeds. From Marketwatch:
The collapsing U.S. housing market crossed another milestone in August, as the median sales price of existing homes fell for the first time in 11 years and for just the sixth time in the past 38 years, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.Weblogs, Inc. CEO Jason Calacanis, a current LA home shopper, believes things will get worse before they get better. He takes David Lereah to task for putting a rosy hue on the bloody crimson of the tanking housing market.
...
"Sellers are finally getting it," said David Lereah, chief economist for the real estate group. "The price drop has stopped the bleeding. Sales have hit bottom."
"What planet is this guy on? Can someone who knows David please forward him this post (or post his email below so I can send this to him). Whatever this guy is drinking I'll take a double!How is the down housing market affecting you? Are you willing to sell your Los Feliz bungalow for under $200,000 today or will you be ready in a few months? Please let us know by private email.You can read more of David's spin at this post. As you read the document you can see they are spinning every single negative piece of data to a positive. Are realtors idiots? Do they actually read this press release and trust what this guy is saying? I mean, lines like this are total spin: "After a stronger-than-expected drop in July, the fairly even sales numbers in August tell us the market is at a more sustainable pace." Uhhh... the second largest drop in history is a sustainable pace? A 12%+ plus drop from last year and a month-to-month drop is not down market--it's a "sustainable pace."
· Existing-home prices fall for 1st time in 11 years [MarketWatch]
· David Lereah come to me--I command you to respond [calacanis.com]