Beautiful. As this number drops, I will know we are reaching a bottom. People always see in hindsight, so people will be completely caught off guard by a housing recover. I’m not saying it will be soon or strong. I’m simply saying that group think is always wrong. Just as the group think concurred that “house prices always go up” a year or two before the housing bubble collapsed, so the group think will concur that “housing always sucks” a year or two before the recovery.
People aren’t stupid but they sure act that way much of the time.
Please remember all real estate is local. The RE market in northern Virginia, Washington, DC area MAY have already bottomed. However, it may not bottom out in Detroit for years. Phoenix may be a good investment right now based on demographics. Western North Dakota has been going up because of its oil based economy. Charlotte may have already bottomed out but Raleigh may still go lower. NH will bottom out before RI & CT.
Keep in mind that people are generally moving south and west. They are also moving to where the jobs are in the lower tax states like NH over MA.