USA Today - 96% of Economists say Housing Bottoming This Year

Here is why you can't just read the attention grabbing headline. This from the USA Today "Most agree: Housing crunch isn't over yet". Well that sounds really awful, right? Not if you read the article. Excerpt below......................

"WASHINGTON — Housing is proving to be one of the biggest wild cards in the economy in 2007 as analysts are deeply divided about whether the worst in the downturn is over or there is much more pain to go.
Only 9% of economists say the housing decline ended in 2006, according to a USA TODAY survey of 55 economists taken Jan. 18-24. Another 42% said the downturn will end in the first half of the year, and 45% said housing will bottom out in the second half."

Well excuse me but let's look at what the economists are saying. More said that housing already bottomed in 2006 or will bottom in the first half of 2007 than won't. And the "down side" nearly all of the rest of the economists say it will bottom in the second half of 2007. So add it up 96% say bottom is near so as a would be home buyer better to buy at the bottom than the top. More excerpts below.

"Seeing things stabilize and hearing reports that housing is stabilizing is good for consumer confidence," he says.

The NAR's index of pending home sales, which is adjusted for seasonal variations, rose in December at the fastest pace since March 2004. The level of unsold homes on the market appeared to have peaked in July, the group says. "

Contributing: Barbara Hansen, Noelle Knox - USA Today - Feb 5, 2007