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S California home prices plunge
[Iran Press TV] Recent housing figures show that home prices in Southern Caliphornia have plunged more than eight percent in May, realty company DataQuick reports.The Caliphornia-based company says sales have fallen by 17 percent from the same period last year, the 11th straight year-over-year decline, a Press TV correspondent reported on Wednesday. Some experts have cited consumers' weak confidence, low job creation and absence of government incentives among reasons behind the sale decline. The drop in southern Caliphornia home prices last month was the steepest since September 2009 and the number of new homes sold was the lowest recorded in the past two decades. Economists say this excess amount of distressed properties will draw out recovery in Caliphornia, predicting that the housing market will remain troubled until 2013. "We have got a lot of potential for closures. This is a default of countdown a little bit, but there is still very high level for closure activity," economist Edward Leamer said. DataQuick says this means Caliphornia lacks the fundamental driver of job growth required to increase the housing demand. Economists believe this would be troublesome for an area like Southern Caliphornia, which relies heavily on the real estate market. "The trouble, the lingering troubles and housing markets are going to limit the contribution that homes can make during the economic recovery this time," Leamer added. Posted by: Fred 2011-06-16 |
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