Housing glass half-full and half-empty
Palm Beach Post

By: Jeff Ostrowski

05/18/08

Has the housing market hit bottom yet? As usual, the answer depends on who’s answering.

First, Bob Graeve of Illustrated Properties offers this, based on April sales that show a few sparks of life: “We’ve hit bottom! Sales jump! Inventory drops! Sales price increases! Avg. Sq. ft. price increases! Median Price increases! Palm Beach County certainly is not in the same boat as the rest of the country.”

Depends on which boat he’s talking about. Binghamton, N.Y., and Peoria, Ill., are in the double-digit increase boat, while Palm Beach County, as of the first three months of this year, remained squarely in the double-digit decrease boat.

Meanwhile, Dean Baker of the Center for Economic Policy Research, gives a much more pessimistic portrayal:

“All the recent data continue to show no signs of any uptick in the housing market. The Homebuilders Housing Market Index for April remained near its record low, as there continues to be no evidence of any rush of new homebuyers. The Mortgage Bankers’ four week average for its weekly applications index continues to trend downward. And the Realtors pending homes sales index hit a new low of 83.0 in March.

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