From MONEY NEWS:
The number of Americans who bought previously occupied homes fell in September. Home sales are on pace to match last year’s dismal figures — the worst in 13 years.
The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that home sales dropped 3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.91 million homes. That’s below the 6 million that economists say is consistent with a healthy housing market.
The housing market has been hobbled by foreclosures, weak demand and falling home prices. Last year 4.91 million previously occupied homes were sold, the lowest level since 1997…
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EDITOR: Interesting conversation over dinner yesterday with a Wall Street partner in an investment firm. He made two observations, perhaps right, perhaps wrong and a third which is undboutably correct.
The first was the US banks and other mortgage investors could have survived a program to reduce mortgage loans to no more than the value of the house and that it was lender belief that they could do better in the long run that maintains the status quo. He suggested some legislation would be necessary to facilitate and induce the adjustments, perhaps with the introduction of third party money that would share in the savings from reduced interest rates and a portion of profits from the ultimate sale of the properties down the road.
He also maintained that losses resulting from the default by Greece on its sovereign debt would not dangerously erode the capital base of French and German banks. They just don’t like the idea of losing money when somehow the Greek or EU publics can be made to absorb the losses.
The other observation was the principle problem impeding the future of the USA was the huge portion of the Gross National Product devoted to health care, a full 6% greater than the highest of other major nations.
