New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley warned that the U.S. housing recovery is still in a fragile state and that people may want to hold off on the celebration until more subtle markers of improvement strengthen. Dudley noted that while sales and prices are rising in some areas, there are others that still struggle and have not enjoyed the benefits of recovery. He also said that true recovery would not take hold until credit restrictions are eased, more underwater borrowers are allowed to refinance and the flow of delinquent loans adding to the foreclosure inventory are thinned out. For more on this continue reading the following article from TheStreet.
Various housing market indicators might be looking up, but it may be too early to get excited about the housing recovery,
Speaking at a distressed real estate conference on Friday, New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley, who also serves as vice chair at the interest rate setting arm of the Federal Reserve, said that housing market had failed to respond to monetary policy.
He pointed to several housing market indicators that remain weak despite the recent rebound.
Claim up to $26,000 per W2 Employee
- Billions of dollars in funding available
- Funds are available to U.S. Businesses NOW
- This is not a loan. These tax credits do not need to be repaid
"It is true that various housing market indicators have looked somewhat better of late. Housing starts and sales of new and existing single-family homes are trending up gradually. Nationally, home prices have stabilized and begun to rise modestly after falling roughly 30 percent from their 2006 peak," said Dudley in prepared remarks. "However, the absolute level of starts and sales remain quite low, particularly when viewed on a per-capita basis. Moreover, housing market conditions still vary significantly across the country, with the worst performing counties still experiencing high volumes of distressed sales and annual house price declines of around 5 percent."
That limits the ability of housing to contribute more positively to economic growth, he noted.
He attributed the sluggishness in the housing market to familiar problems of constrained credit, the inability of underwater borrowers to refinance and the continuing onslaught of seriously delinquent loans that are adding to the foreclosure pipeline.
Separately, the New York Fed released new data about the distressed residential real estate market.Through a series of interactive maps, viewers can explore the current status of foreclosed inventory and future scenarios at national and state specific levels.
Among the findings, California, Michigan and Florida account for 30% of the total real estate owned (REO) property in the market.
Also, if the average number of days properties remain seriously delinquent and in foreclosure increases, foreclosure inventories could triple in New York and double in New Jersey. You can explore more about your state here.
This article was republished with permission from TheStreet.
