The pace of descent in home price values appears to be slowing. There is a clear inflection point in the year-over-year data, due to four consecutive months of improved rates of return, after the steep decline that began in the fall of 2005…. To put it in perspective, these are the first time we have seen broad increases in home prices in 34 months. This could be an indication that home price declines are finally stabilizing
—David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s.
If you’re looking for a bottom, there’s a lot of good stuff here. If you’re looking for a real recovery, it’s going to take some time.
—Karl Case
The change in momentum here is very significant.
—Robert Shiller
Were it not for those rate reductions and the moratorium, you’d see prices down right now
—Ronald Temple, co-Director of Research at Lazard Asset Management, who is expecting prices to stabilize at present and subsequently fall an additional 12-15%
Once again TV commentators that emphasize the year-over-year numbers being down 17% are welcome to have their sarcasm but they are missing the point as well as the turn. Recession is over, economy is recovering — let’s look forward and stop the backward looking focus.
—John Silva, Wells Fargo
The plunge in prices reflected the freezing of credit and all-round panic, which generated a step decline in home sales. Activity is now recovering, and with inventory falling, prices are dropping much less quickly and could even rise a bit over the next few months…We would not expect any gains to last, because prices are still high relative to incomes and rents, and also because the uptick in sales will, we think, prompt a new wave of supply. But this is still very welcome news today.
—Ian Shepherdson, High Frequency Economics
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