Real estate: It's time to buy again
After four years of plunging home prices, the most attractive asset
class in America is housing.
Mike Castleman, founder and CEO of Metrostudy, which tracks real-time
data of the country’s inventory of new homes, says a housing shortage is
looming that will soon create a huge surge in demand for new homes. As
such, now is the time to buy, he says.
In the 41 cities Metrostudy covers, 78,000 houses are either vacant and
for sale, or under construction – that is less than a quarter of the new
homes that fell in that category during the housing boom in 2006 and way
below the level of a decade ago.
“If we had anything like normal levels of buying, those houses would
sell in 2½ months,” says Castleman. “We’d see an incredible shortage.
And that’s where we’re heading.”
The historic drop in new construction mixed with the decline in housing
prices is laying the foundation for a dramatic recovery in residential
real estate. Castleman expects homeowners soon will start returning,
which will drive up prices in many markets later this year. He foresees
the recovery following a similar path as previous ones: A severe housing
shortage will drive a big increase in demand.
Posted: 28 March 2011
Source: CNN Money
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