PRICES CORRECTING, BUYERS RETURNING TO MARKET

Posted at 9:32 PM, Oct. 12, 2006

Home sales appear to be bottoming out with lower home prices attracting buyers in many areas of the country, according to NAR. Existing-home sales are forecast to be fairly stable in the fourth quarter and sales for all of 2006 are expected to drop 8.9% to 6.45 million--still the third strongest year after consecutive records in 2004 and 2005.  New-home sales are forecast to fall 17.3% this year to 1.06 million, the fourth highest year on record.  Housing starts should be down 10.9% to 1.84 million in 2006. "Many potential home buyers who have been taking a wait-and-see attitude or taking their time and being methodical in the search process are being enticed by lower home prices," said David Lereah, NAR's chief economist.  "Given a positive economic backdrop of lower interest rates and job creation, we expect sales activity to pick up early next year." (Source: NAR) Full Story . . .