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Six Reasons to Fear the Overhang of Unsold Houses

By Call it Crazy   Follow   Sat, 1 Dec 2012, 8:44am   337 views   3 comments
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http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-30/six-reasons-to-fear-the-overhang-of-unsold-houses#r=hpt-ls

The huge “shadow inventory” of unsold homes doesn’t seem to scare people the way it used to. Home prices are rising and builders are ramping up production. The number of properties for sale is the smallest in a decade. In an excellent article on Nov. 29, Bloomberg’s John Gittelsohn and Prashant Gopal reported that some housing doomsayers are recanting their words.

Real estate professor Susan Wachter is one of those erstwhile doomsayers. She thought that once the big banks resolved legal issues that had stalled foreclosures, a wave of homes owned by banks would hit the market, pushing down prices. “I was wrong,” Wachter, who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, told Gittelsohn and Gopal.

Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist for Capital Economics, has also changed his stripes. He notes that an Obama administration plan has made it easier for people to refinance, so fewer are walking away from their homes. “We were originally skeptical,” Ashworth wrote to clients. “But we have to admit that it has made a significant difference.”

It may be a little too soon, though, to cast off doubt and join the real estate recovery celebration. Shadow inventory remains a very real threat to housing’s future. Here are some reasons for worry:

1) The foreclosed houses that are selling are the best-maintained ones, which fetch the best prices. Banks are still sitting on a ton of homes that have been neglected and are falling into disrepair, says Joshua Rosner, a bank analyst at Graham Fisher in New York. Selling those will depress the market and force banks to recognize big losses, Rosner says.

2) An unknown number of homes is being rented out because the owners can’t sell them. They aren’t counted in shadow inventory. Add them in and the overhang of properties ready to hit the market looms larger.

3) Builders, eager to get back to business, could take the signs of recovery too seriously and once again overbuild, warns Nela Richardson, a senior economic analyst with Bloomberg Government. She notes that the price increases are occurring “on very little volume” and says that with mortgages hard to get, those without high credit scores and a big down payment are still frozen out of the market. “I would hate for the builders to become speculative at any point in this cycle,” Richardson says.

4) “Lending is tight because the regulators are beating the banks to death,” says Christopher Whalen, senior managing director at Tangent Capital Partners in New York. Convoluted foreclosure processes that require judges’ approval in states like Connecticut are also weighing on the market and will continue to do so, says Whalen.

5) A softening of the economy could easily kill the nascent housing recovery. “I’m still worried about home price declines,” Yale University economist Robert Shiller told Bloomberg. “It’s funny how people have so much confidence in the recovery. History shows that these markets are hard to predict.”

6) The rebound in home prices will remain uncertain as long as potential supply is bigger than potential demand, as seems to be the case today. “The best cure for any market meltdown is to let prices fall to whatever level is needed to clear it,” economist Anthony Sanders of George Mason University told Bloomberg. Because that hasn’t happened, the real estate recovery might just be a house of straw.

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1. robertoaribas Follow Befriend (23) 55 threads 3,810 comments Scottsdale, AZ robertoaribas's website

   1   10:13am Sat 1 Dec 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Call it Crazy says The foreclosed houses that are selling are the best-maintained ones, which fetch the best prices. Banks are still sitting on a ton of homes that have been neglected and are falling into disrepair, says Joshua Rosner, a bank analyst at Graham Fisher in New York. Selling those will depress the market and force banks to recognize big losses, Rosner says. unsubstantiated. And, more likely to be concentrated in judicial foreclosures, than in trust deed states. Call it Crazy says 2) An unknown number of homes is being rented out because the owners can’t sell them. They aren’t counted in shadow inventory. Add them in and the overhang of properties ready to hit the market looms larger. this part is just stupid. If owners decide to rent rather than sell today, they are very unlikely to sell at market breaking prices in the future either. they clearly are strong enough and smart enough to wait, and someone waiting for a good price doesn't break a market. Not today, not tomorrow. Call it Crazy says Builders, eager to get back to business, could take the signs of recovery too seriously and once again overbuild, warns Nela Richardson, a senior economic analyst with Bloomberg Government. She notes that the price increases are occurring “on very little volume” and says that with mortgages hard to get, those without high credit scores and a big down payment are still frozen out of the market. “I would hate for the builders to become speculative at any point in this cycle,” Richardson says. total bs. Builders are building 300 to 400 thousand homes a year right now, which in a country the size of the US rounds to freaking zero. They aren't building on spec today, you have to put up a good deposit to get it started. Call it Crazy says “Lending is tight because the regulators are beating the banks to death,” says Christopher Whalen, senior managing director at Tangent Capital Partners in New York. Convoluted foreclosure processes that require judges’ approval in states like Connecticut are also weighing on the market and will continue to do so, says Whalen. lending is tight. for lending to affect the market, it would have to be getting tighter... which it is not at this time. Also, prices are going up, but this quote says foreclosuresCall it Crazy says are weighing down the market.. and might continue to do so... continue by prices continuing to go up? how did this quote even get in????

2. robertoaribas Follow Befriend (23) 55 threads 3,810 comments Scottsdale, AZ robertoaribas's website

   2   10:16am Sat 1 Dec 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Call it Crazy says A softening of the economy could easily kill the nascent housing recovery. “I’m still worried about home price declines,” Yale University economist Robert Shiller told Bloomberg. “It’s funny how people have so much confidence in the recovery. History shows that these markets are hard to predict.” A softening of the economy would be negative for housing. True. In fact it is always true, and always will be true... A strengthening of the economy would be good for housing too... so this is a tautology, and means nothing... currently the economy is growing albeit slowly, and signs point to that continuing, either one could happen in the future. Completely meaningless quote, unless there is a specific reason to expect the economy to turn south in the foreseeable future.

3. Call it Crazy Follow Befriend 229 threads 2,781 comments

   3   3:57pm Sat 1 Dec 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike (1)   robertoaribas says unsubstantiated. And, more likely to be concentrated in judicial foreclosures, than in trust deed states. You REALLY need to get out more and stop making your screwed up opinions based on one market, Phoenix.... you are clueless to the rest of the country!! robertoaribas says Banks are still sitting on a ton of homes that have been neglected and are falling into disrepair, says Joshua Rosner, a bank analyst at Graham Fisher in New York. Selling those will depress the market and force banks to recognize big losses, Rosner says. I have been looking throughout a two county area and I can tell you that statement is spot on. Almost every side street I drive down has a shadow house sitting on it rotting away without any For Sale sign on it. robertoaribas says 2) An unknown number of homes is being rented out because the owners can’t sell them. They aren’t counted in shadow inventory. Add them in and the overhang of properties ready to hit the market looms larger. Another true statement... when I was looking at rentals last year, at least 3/4 of them were owners who couldn't sell because they were underwater, so they chose to rent hoping the housing prices would rise in the future.... which they haven't.. robertoaribas says Also, prices are going up, but this quote says foreclosures are weighing down the market.. and might continue to do so... continue by prices continuing to go up? how did this quote even get in???? Prices are going up in your little world of Phoenix, but in many other areas of the country, they are flat or still going down, just not falling as fast as a few years ago...