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  • From: Clansgian AT wmconnect.com
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Home sales and prices forecast by NAR
  • Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 22:21:25 EDT




> David Lereah, NAR's chief economist


David Lereah and hte NAR no longer have any credibility. Lereah's
predictions have been so far off the mark, the statistics he quotes have
proven to be
skewed and cooked to such an extent that many people are beginning to blame
Lereah and the NAR for their impending financial dooooom!

Lereah is ostensibly an economist but he functions as the NAR's chief
cheerleader. During the rise of the housing bubble, the NAR added tens of
thousands
of members as everyone and his brother become a real estate agent (and a
great
many of them Realtors). The NAR cannot by any means just come out and say,
"The jig's up, housing sales and housing prices are poised to take a
nosedive!"
So each report by Lereah and the NAR is several months behind reality with
the stats twisted and skewed until the most favorable angle can be achieved
to
make it look as though things in the housing game aren't nearly as bad as
they
are in reality.

For example, desperate house sellers all over the country (this time it's not
local, local, local which mantra we so often hear) are offering incentives
like adding a swimming pool, a year's maid service, vacations, or a new car
to
avoid lowering the price of their houses too quickly. Yet the NAR reports
house prices with the incentives included so it won't look like prices are
coming
down as fast as they are.

Here is a blog dedicated to pointing out the extent to which what Lereah says
differs from the facts:

davidlereahwatch.blogspot.com


But I finally find myself agreeing with Gene on this one: There isn't a
housing bubble.

There WAS a housing bubble.












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