Housing Market Sinks Lower -- A New Article from Mike Larson in Money and Markets

Mike Larson takes a closer look at the residential housing market in the U.S. In this issue of Money and Markets, Mr. Larson discusses the U.S. economy and all that is contributing to its crash.

Jupiter, Fla. (PRWEB) December 2, 2007 -- Mike Larson takes a closer look at the residential housing market in the U.S. Mr. Larson discusses the U.S. economy and all that is contributing to its crash.

• Existing home sales dropped almost 21% from a year ago. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate, at 4.97 million, is the worst since the National Association of Realtors started tracking combined sales of single family homes, condos, and co-ops.

• At the current sales pace, it would take 10.5 months to move all the existing inventory of single family homes on the market.

• Home prices were down 5.1% from a year ago. That's the biggest drop on record.

• Sales for new homes were down almost 24% from a year earlier, while the government's September sales estimate was dramatically slashed by 54,000 homes.

Some smaller, private home builders are already going bankrupt. They include Kara Homes in New Jersey, Neumann Homes in the Chicago area, and Levitt and Sons here in Florida.

And many of the larger publicly-held builders are struggling with high debt loads, plunging

sales, and surging cancellations, including Hovnanian Enterprises and Beazer Homes.

The banks that financed the mortgages behind the bubble are still too dangerous to touch. Especially for long term money, there is still great uncertainty and too much risk.

"Remember, only two or three months ago, mainstream pundits and analysts were saying Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would dodge the mortgage problems. Now, those stocks have been cut in half. Freddie Mac has been forced to slash its dividend by 50% and go hat in hand to investors in order to raise $6 billion in capital," Mike Larson states.

To read this issue online, please visit:

http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/Issues.aspx?NewsletterEntryId=1228

About MIKE LARSON & MONEY AND MARKETS     

Mike Larson joined the company in 2001, and has more than 10 years of experience researching and writing about personal finance, investing, and the housing and mortgage industry. In 2003, Mr. Larson was named associate editor of the company's monthly Safe Money Report. In this role, he is responsible for writing and editing as well as analyzing trading opportunities for clients. Mr. Larson is also a regular contributor to the company's daily e-letter, Money and Markets.

Before joining Weiss Research, Mr. Larson was a personal finance reporter for Bankrate.com, where he wrote extensively on mortgage lending, banking, residential real estate, and Federal Reserve Board policy. His responsibilities included analyzing economic data and interest rate trends for a weekly column and developing rate forecasts for a regular index feature. Previously, Mr. Larson held positions at Bloomberg News and the Boston Herald.

Recognized as an interest rate and mortgage market expert, Mr. Larson's views have been quoted in the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Dow Jones Newswires, Reuters, Sun-Sentinel and the Palm Beach Post. He has also appeared as an investment expert to discuss the housing market on CNBC, CNN, and Bloomberg Television. His writing has been acknowledged by both the National Association of Real Estate Editors and the Massachusetts Press Association.

Among the first analysts to call the housing slide, Mr. Larson's new policy paper, "How Federal Regulators, Lenders and Wall Street Created America's Housing Crisis: Nine Proposals for a Long-Term Recovery" has received broad media coverage following its July 2007 submission to the Federal Reserve and FDIC.

Mr. Larson holds B.A. and B.S. degrees from Boston University.

Money and Markets (www.moneyandmarkets.com) is a free daily investment newsletter from Dr. Martin Weiss and Weiss Research analysts offering the latest investing news and financial insights for the stock market, including tips and advice on investing in gold, energy and oil. Weiss Research, Inc. is located in Jupiter, Florida. For more information about our editors, or to set up an interview, please contact Jennifer Moran at 561-627-3300 or visit www.moneyandmarkets.com.

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