Values dropped 4.4 percent in the 12 months that ended August, an eighth consecutive decline, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index, which has data back to 2001.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aRbwsKS_s_ZQ&refer=home
Paulson said today it's too soon to call an end to the housing slump.
``We haven't hit the bottom yet in housing,'' Paulson said at a conference in New Delhi. Still, he added ``there is enough strength in the economy that we can grow through this.''
Oh and Have we mentioned this before? He Supports a STRONG DOLLAR. Are you listening? Mr. Paulson supports a STRONG DOLLAR even if it loses half it's value.
``I am strongly committed to a strong dollar,'' Paulson said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aadwopeYYgEs&refer=home
Here is another example of government helping Banks while shutting out the poor who really need help. Some of the banks are borrowing from government at a lower rate. These banks are saving $1 billion annually. NOte: this program was set up during the Great Depression to revive housing.
Would Countrywide be bankrupt if it had not borrowed from FHLB?
``You don't want to use the phrase `going out of business' in the press, but they would be in a much, much worse liquidity position if they didn't have the Federal Home Loan Bank system sitting out there,'' said Paul Miller, an analyst at Friedman Billings Ramsey Group Inc., a securities firm in Arlington, Virginia.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a_l2_kTFSFGU&refer=home
It's going to be interesting to see what Mr. Lawrence Yun says about housing market tomorrow (Pending Home Sales). So what do you think HDs? Should we blame the August Credit crunch again tomorrow?
