Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Finding A Bottom: When Housing Prices Stop Declining?

Finding A Bottom: When Housing Prices Stop Declining?
Posted By:Bob Pisani

Peter Boockvar of Miller Tabak made a good point in a commentary this morning. Discussing when and how we might find a bottom, he notes: "In my opinion it comes down to predominantly one factor and that is when house prices stop going down. When that occurs we will be able to comfortably quantify all the remaining exposure and securities tied to it."

With that said, the Case-Shiller home price index was weak but not as weak as expected. The composite of 20 metro areas fell 1.4 percent from March to April; a decline of 2.0 percent was expected. This was the smallest month over month drop since August-September of last year. Year over year, the decline was 15.3 percent; 15.9 percent was expected.

Bottom line: prices are still declining, so we have not hit a clear bottom, but the rate of decline is slowing.

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Lunch is for wimps

Lunch is for wimps
It's not a question of enough, pal. It's a zero sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred from one perception to another.