Bank of America Survey Results Dec 2007
Blogging
Bank of America recently released their December 2007 housing survey. Overall, the housing market is still weak, but there was measured improvement since November's results. Despite December typically being a slow month, lower prices and better mortgage rates were the primary reason for the increase of sales this month. The survey projects the upcoming months not to see many signs of improvement though, warning that if house prices fall too low, buyers will hold off and wait for the market to bottom out before buying a house.
The survey pinpoints the main problem for this to be foreclosures. Although December foreclosure rates also improved slightly since November, housing prices continue to fall as foreclosures are still undercutting average asking prices.
The second obstacle to seeing the housing market strengthen is the number of houses on the market. Bank of America noted a higher amount of home listings this month in 34 markets, while only 6 reported flat or lower numbers. Typically, December sees a fall in housing inventory by about 10%. The survey was optimistic that greater stabilization was possible, however, citing a 55% decrease in housing construction levels. This will cut the number of new houses entering the market and lead towards improved rates.
Date: Monday, January, 7th 2008 @ 10:32:09 AM
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