September 12, 2007 -- The National Association of Realtors reduced its
home sales forecast for the ninth time this year and said the housing
slump will extend into 2008.
Existing home sales are expected to fall 8.6 percent in 2007,
exceeding the 6.8 percent drop estimated a month ago. New-home sales
probably will decline 24 percent on top of an 18 percent fall in 2006,
the trade group said yesterday in a statement.
New home sales won't reach a bottom until the first quarter of 2008,
the organization said. A month ago, the Realtors said the low point
would be at the end of this year.
Some analysts said the Realtors were actually being too optimistic.
The group's forecast said existing home sales and prices, as well as
new home prices, will increase in 2008 - an outlook more upbeat than
an Aug. 30 forecast from Lehman Brothers.
Sales of existing homes will continue to fall through the middle of
next year and then level off before gaining in 2009, the Lehman report
said.
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