Economists Announce that the Three-Year Housing Slump is Coming to an End
The positive real estate and economic recovery news is hard to ignore these days. Although there may still be some mixed signals, overall economy and real estate trends look encouraging. Some of the most recent upbeat news this week was from one of the country's top group of forecasters. The National Association of Business Economists declared that the 22 month recession is finally over!
After its latest survey of members, the NABE stated "The good news is that the deep and long recession appears to be over, and with improving credit markets, the U.S. economy can return to solid growth next year without worrying about inflation." The association also said that the three-year downturn in the housing market appears close to an end.
As reported by BusinessWeek, more than 80 percent of economists believe the recession is over and an expansion has begun, although it is expected that the recovery will be slow as worries over unemployment and high federal debt persist.
The consensus forecast from the business economists is for the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to grow by 2.9 percent, and for new housing starts to jump by an impressive 38 percent. Home resales tend to be closely tied with the GDP, meaning that positive growth for the GDP will result in positive growth for the national and local Tampa Bay real estate market.
Additional positive news for the real estate market is that home prices in many major metropolitan markets are continuing to bounce back. Although some are still seeing a decline, cities such as Boston and New York are reported to have experienced more than a 1 percent increase.
And even more positive news - the real estate market right now continues to enjoy mortgages at sharply discounted interest rates. Fixed 30 year rates averaged 5 percent last week, and 15 year rates came in at 4.4 percent.
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