In case there is any doubt about whether NAR chief “economist” Lawrence Yun is just as much of a shameless price-boosting shill as his predecessor David Lereah, I present some excerpts from a post he made on Friday regarding the inefficient, expensive, and economically stupid homebuyer tax credit: Unleashing Pent-Up Housing Demand and Sustainable Economic Recovery
There is no delight in watching the budget deficit soar. The $1.4 trillion deficit in the completed 2009 fiscal year to September is the highest ever in the U.S. in sheer dollar figures, and the highest since the Second World War if measured in relation to the overall economic pie. It’s a huge burden to the future generation and could easily cause interest rates to rise much sooner and quite sharply. Washington needs to come out with a credible plan to reduce the deficit over time.
However, one area where federal taxpayer dollars have effectively been utilized is in providing a homebuyer tax credit. The key to any future sustainable economic recovery lies in home values stabilizing or, better yet, a return to a historical appreciation rate of 3 to 5 percent each year. The bubble prices crash landed. All the excesses have already been removed. In fact, one could legitimately argue that home values have overshot downward.
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It would be an utter pity if the housing market, just at the cusp of self-sustaining recovery, rolls downhill again. That could indeed happen if potential buyers step back and inventory again climbs. Falling home values – independent of whether overcorrecting is happening or not – will bring back all the associated collateral damage.A much happier scenario would be that the buying momentum continues for few additional quarters such that inventory falls back down to the normal 5 to 7 months, a level consistent with home value stabilization. Once that is accomplished, the consumer “fear factor” of waiting and waiting for a lower price later down the road will no longer be part of home buying decision.
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For that happy scenario to play out, a time extension on the home buyer tax credit is critically needed.
Unfortunately the full post is available only to registered members of the real estate professional’s social network ActiveRain. If you for some reason have a desire to read the whole thing, drop me an email and I can email it to you.