For a while, it seemed the housing crisis had been averted. Now, Gary Shilling, president of economic consulting firm A. Gary Shilling & Co., says that things are likely to get worse. He predicts that housing prices could fall another 20%.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said they tumbled 10.5% last week, the biggest fall-off in four months. While the foreclosure crisis may be playing a role in the decline, rising interest rates are also partly to blame.
Home prices in 20 major U.S. cities rose a better than expected 0.6% in July compared to June, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price survey. However, year-over-year gains slowed, suggesting a slowdown in the nation's economic recovery.
It has been two years since Lehman Brothers went under, sparking the Great Recession. While the banks have done surprisingly well in past two years, the economy is still struggling to recover and millions remain out of work. Here are 10 charts of key economic indicators to watch.
Fewer Americans received home-loan modifications under the Obama administration's program to reduce foreclosures and delinquencies. More owners with modifications flunked out.
It's getting harder to avoid the evidence pointing to more trouble ahead for housing. Essentially, there's a massive mismatch between rising supplies of homes for sale and dwindling demand from buyers. Not even high-end markets are immune.
The U.S. housing sector improved a bit more than expected in April, as home prices in 20 major cities rose 3.8% on a year-over-year basis, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller survey. But is rising housing demand real, or was it a temporary surge from the now-expired home buyer tax credit?
Sales hit a record-low 300,000-unit annual rate, as the end of the homebuyer tax credit discouraged buyers. More broadly, the U.S. now faces a policy choice: Should it continue to rely on housing as an engine of growth?
The government is doing its part to keep a prop under housing by extending the homebuyer credit into 2010 and expanding it to include qualifying existing homeowners. But here's the potential show-stopper to a housing recovery: Rising mortgage rates.
