Housing: Looks like we hit some people’s price points….

It looks like CA homes sales jumped 18% year over year which is a good sign. It means that at least some people think that current prices are a good bargain. Don’t get too excited though because we still have a boatload of inventory to burn through not to mention the shadow inventory of bank owned properties out there and the thousands of foreclosures that are happening every month. We are by no means “out of the woods”. You can get a little excited when you see the following:

- YOY home sales rising - check
- median prices holding steady (in a 5K range up or down) for at least several months
- unemployment going down steadily
- the price of oil stabilizing or decreasing (you might want to read “The Coming Economic Collapse” or “Twilight in the Desert” to see what may in store for us in this arena. Also you can google “peak oil”).
- net new number of foreclosures not refilling the market as others are sold off
- there are almost no brown lawns in your hood (spray painting doesnt count!)