Green Shoot on housing??! What green shoot??

6/23/09

The NAR just report:

Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – rose 2.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.77 million units in May from a downwardly revised level of 4.66 million units in April, but remained 3.6 percent below the 4.95 million-unit pace in May 2008.
...
Total housing inventory at the end of May fell 3.5 percent to 3.80 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 9.6-month supply at the current sales pace, down from a 10.1-month supply in April.
...
Distressed properties, which declined to 33 percent of all sales in May from 45 percent in April ...

Yun said the appraisal problem is serious. “Lenders are using appraisers who may not be familiar with a neighborhood, or who compare traditional homes with distressed and discounted sales,” he said. “In the past month, stories of appraisal problems have been snowballing from across the country with many contracts falling through at the last moment. There is danger of a delayed housing market recovery and a further rise in foreclosures if the appraisal problems are not quickly corrected.”

My comment:On Yun's word, Professional appraisaer is doing their honest job nowadays. There is no problem from appraisal. It just means the damn house is still pricing too high compare to reality. So, housing price is still too high compare to current situation, bleak employment, too many distressed house around, many default is coming, lack of demand of new home building around,..... Folks, what do you think? I am laughing the expert Lawrence Yun at what he said.