The days of big annual increases in home values are likely over for good, many real estate experts now say, according to a story today in The New York Times. That's unwelcome news for Gannett markets in Florida, California, Nevada and Arizona that were hit especially hard in the real estate bust.
"There is no iron law that real estate must appreciate," Stan Humphries, chief economist for the real estate site Zillow, told the newspaper. "It’s entirely likely that markets like Arizona will not recover even in the 15- to 20-year time frame. The demand doesn’t exist."
If the long term is grim, the short term is grimmer, the NYT says. Housing experts are bracing themselves for tomorrow, when the sales figures for July will be released. The data is expected to show a drop of as much as 20% from last year.
Monday, August 23, 2010
6 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Actually, there is a glimmer of good news for s in these reports. That is homeowners are leaving their houses on the for-sale market longer because they have priced it above the market. That should mean more real estate ads, although Internet sites offer a much more enhanced view of properties than newspapers. It is going to take a while for homeowners to realize they won't get the price they wanted for their properties.
ReplyDeleteThese guys just love to hear themselves talk. They have no idea what 15-20 years from now will look like.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at the studies of what happens after crashes, you see that the after-effects last for about 20 years, with prices of the product that crashed remaining low for that period before picking up. So the estimates of 15-20 years are not far off from what happened in the past with the 1929 stock exchange collapse, or the Dutch tulip bulb mania. Interesting to note that the French Revolution followed one of these crashes. Bring out the guillotines.
ReplyDeleteDown 27% - and this is before the downward revisions that will inevitably come next month, after the storm has died down.
ReplyDeleteThis is not good.
This is not good news anyway it's cut. Much of the U.S. economy hinges on the real estate market - retail and wholesale sales, engineering, construction, home renovation, title searches, closings, municipal fees, mortgage taxes, etc. etc.
ReplyDeleteAs far as increasing classified ads, as we say in New York, forget about it! Classified is a graveyard for real estate sales.
As for Gannett options, more cuts will have to be made if revenues don't rebound. The company has already borrowed itself into a corner, and last year's layoffs were all about paying down that debt before the balloon pops in 2012.
It's already been demonstrated that the corporate "leadership" will not share in any sacrifices, and indeed will only grab for more when times get tough.
What will be interesting is seeing what that leadership finds remaining to cut. And be sure of one thing: the localities will be little to no say.
Gannett used to be a company of different voices from where freedom speaks.
It's now Lemmings Inc.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete