Housing

Much more coming from me on this over the next few posts, but for now, I'd like to you join the NAR in clapping louder:

The National Association of Realtors again lowered its forecast for existing U.S. home sales in 2007, but said the market wasn't likely to suffer any further sharp downturns.

[...]

Lawrence Yun, NAR's senior economist, said the market was likely to be relatively stable going forward, suggesting that the worst drops in activity are behind the housing sector. "Existing-home sales should be relatively stable over the next few months, holding in a modest range, with some pent-up demand growing from buyers who've been on the sidelines," Mr. Yun said in a statement. Mr. Yun continued to forecast a relatively mild upturn in housing activity towards the end of this year and going into 2008. "A modest upturn is projected for existing-home sales toward the end of the year, with broader improvement to include the new-home market by the middle of 2008," he said.

I've got one question for Mr. Yun: where are these people going to get the financing? I can't see mobs of people storming into the real estate market right now. Or any time soon. Mr. Yun, you earn More Palaver's "Hack of the Day" award for Thursday, August 10. Congratulations!