Posted on 01/21/2006 2:23:58 PM PST by lauriehelds
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday said the real estate market was slowing "dramatically" and only a "miracle" could stop soaring mortgage rates from eating into housing prices.
Consumers are definitely feeling the pinch of higher mortgage lending rates and are not quite as eager to snap up a new home especially at time when house prices in the Big Apple are near record-highs, the Republican mayor said in his weekly radio show.
"The real estate market is slowing down dramatically and we're going to have a problem down the road," Bloomberg said.
"If people who want to sell their houses have to wait a longer time before someone comes along and buys it, it would be a miracle if prices didn't start to go down," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Hey, I have an idea! Let's just have "the government" (aka the taxpayers) buy them so people whose houses are on the market a long time don't have their feelings hurt!
So someone besides a Saudi sheik will be able to afford to buy something then?
Well, mayor Bloomberg will be in ideal position to buy properties and become a slumlord.
I'm amazed at how easily people just swallow this. Mortgage rates are not "soaring." You can get a 30 year conventional for 5.75% with no points. That's cheap by any standard.
Could it be, that the bubbleheads have finally succeeded in talking down the residential real estate market? Yes, it very well could be. Is this a bad thing? Probably not, as there were and are some pretty severely distorted markets out there, NYC metro being one of them, and much of Florida and California being another.
But, is it too much to ask, for pundits to at least bother to check their facts, before spouting off? I'm beginning to become concerned that all the gloom-and-doom is going to cause an equally irrational shift from excessive optimism, to excessive pessimism.
..paid an 11% note for 10 years back in the late 80's to 90's..
that was al you could get at that period in time
nobody called it "soaring"
Calling Bloomberg a Republican is a bit of a stretch isn't it?
Yes, it is getting so expensive that only those with mega-bucks can buy it. If you can't afford the loan in the first place it really doesn't matter if the interest rate is low.
"nobody called it "soaring"
I jumped into buying my first home in early 1994, because I didn't think I'd see rates so low (7%) again in my lifetime. I don't regret the decision, but boy was I ever wrong about interest rates.
ping
When I bought my first house in 1980, interest rates were 20-22 percent. Didn't bother me - I paid cash. What will cash buy you now? Loaf of bread, maybe.
"This news is not "gloom and doom" at all. It's really GOOD news."
That settles it. You're a Democrat.
And you may be just delusional?
In the last 4 weeks the 30-year rate has declined from 6.37% to 6.10%. Our projections show another trip below 6%. Where are these "soaring" rates that everyone keeps predicting?
Tuscany area is nice. Pleasant weather - best wishes
"Didn't bother me - I paid cash."
I didn't have the luxury of that option at the time. That house is all but paid for now, though, and I do not understand, at all, the cheerleading for a real estate collapse in this country.
"And you may be just delusional?"
Coming from a self-promoting blog flogger, I'll take that as a compliment. And, yes, I believe you're just a little too keen on seeing the economy go down the tubes, to be anything but a fraudulent Democrat troll.
I've been thinking also (some don't believe it) of moving - is Italy any better than perhaps Costa Rica or Belize or Djibouti?
It wasn't a "luxury", it was called work and the price was 30K
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