State home sales down 11.6% in April as weak spring market continuesAnd wouldn't you know it, our in-the-tank for Scott Walker Wisconsin Realtors Association blamed the problem on Obama:
WSJ: ...continuing poor weather and a stagnant national economy helped to keep sales down, the Wisconsin Realtors Association said.
It's not Scott Walker's own lousy red state Wisconsin economic road map that's to blame? It's Obama. Why not just blame the Capitol protests and the recall election while your at it?
The Blame Obama Bunch: Who could have predicted that cutting the pay of public workers and outright opposition to raising the minimum wage would decrease consumer demand for homes?
And with the spread of voucher schools, that have the unintended consequences of watering down and breaking up neighborhoods with highly rated school systems, home buyers are less motivated and home owners are losing one of their biggest selling points:
Sales were down year-over-year in every region of the state in April. The trend of higher home prices and higher interest rates on mortgages also put a rebound in home sales further into the future, at best.
It's the "Blame Obama Bunch" again.
Wolf Richter: This Chart Is The Fate of Housing In America As Student Loans Bankrupt A Whole Generation
ReplyDelete"Student loan balances soared 362% to $1.1 trillion since 2003, during a period when mortgage debt – including the effects of the current Housing Bubble 2 – rose “only” 65% to $8.2 trillion and credit card debt actually declined by 4.2% to $660 billion (chart). The burden of servicing that increasing pile of student loans is eating into other forms of borrowing and spending, such as the American classic, reckless consumption on credit cards, or the purchase of a home. And so the proportion of first-time buyers – the single most important sign of a healthy housing market – has been shrinking for years."