Any hope in sight prior to 2009?

New home sales in the U.S. fell in November approaching an 11-year low and signaling the housing recession is not coming to an end anytime soon. The median forecast from Bloomberg was new home purchases fell to an annual pace of 717K, down from 728K in October.
The level in September was 716K which was the lowest since 1996. Residential real-estate is already marred in the deepest slump in 16 years, and the discounts that mortgage companies are presenting are failing to lure buyers in. This problem is only being compounded by the large amount of foreclosures swelling due to the volume of unsold properties.

2008 Forecast:
Sales of new houses will probably tumble 8.0-9.0 percent in 2008 after a 25 percent drop this year, according to a Dec. 13 forecast from Fannie Mae, the largest mortgage buyer. Sales of new homes in October were already down 48 percent from their July 2005 peak. Home prices in 20 metropolitan areas fell 6.1 percent in the 12 months to October, the most in at least six years, according to a report this week by S&P/Case-Shiller. The decline raises the risk that more Americans will walk away from properties that are worth less than they owe, economists said. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is forecasting prices will fall at least 15 percent from peak to trough. With sales and prices falling, foreclosures rose 68 percent in November from a year earlier. They may continue surging in 2008 as mortgages for some subprime borrowers with adjustable rates reset.