From a recent San Francisco Business Times article:
-A report from Polaris Group, a real estate research and marketing firm, estimates that San Francisco has about 1,000 condos available and at least another 600 under construction, but the market has shown a steep decline in the past three months. The condo resale rate in San Francisco is down by about 35 percent and the number of listings has more than doubled compared with a year ago.
-The main question many housing developers are asking, however, is how and when are vacant units, both condos and foreclosures, going to be absorbed into the market?
-‘The way the housing market stabilizes best is for existing inventory to move,’ [Developer Rick Holliday of Pacific Cannery Lofts in Oakland] said. ‘You have to create a compelling reason for people to buy now.’
True, true, but why wouldn’t you buy now? Because we’re all “Waiting for Godot”, that’s why.
–There’s plenty of supply, but buyers aren’t getting loans [San Francisco Business Times]
“‘You have to create a compelling reason for people to buy now.’”
-> lower the asking price MORON!
Prices low enough to make renting/buying equivalent will work. And lower prices are not Godot, they are arithmetic.
I disagree with the above commenters, people are waiting for Godot, but I think I’ll keep waiting.
The housing market doesn’t suddenly go up or down large percentages in a *single day or week*. When housing markets hit bottom they tend to splat instead of bounce, which gives me no compelling reason to “get in” on prices right now. When housing prices steady and maybe start creeping up *slowly* then I’ll start looking seriously.