Yes, inventory of existing homes looks high, but as suspected the desirable inventory is probably very thing.
Housing starts have been too low for too long for there not to be a shortage looming.
These homes for sale suck
Never before have there been so many squalid, dilapidated homes on the market – and they’re helping to exaggerate already-plummeting home prices.
by Les Christie
(CNNMoney.com) Mold, maggots and piles of festering trash – no wonder home prices are in freefall.
It’s not just the subprime mortgage crisis that’s to blame for plummeting home prices. A flood of squalid properties on the market is helping to exaggerate the post-bubble price declines.
“Part of the reason home prices are declining is a fundamental deterioration in the housing stock,” said Glenn Kelman, CEO of the online, discount broker Redfin. “During the boom, nine out of 10 houses for sale in many markets were in prime condition. Now, for every 10 houses, at least three are dogs.”
Most of these mutts are foreclosed properties that have been permitted to fall into disrepair by lenders overwhelmed with thousands of vacant homes. If these houses sell at all, they’re going for bargain basement prices that are hurting home values throughout the neighborhood.
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