Daily Real Estate News  |   February 25, 2008  |   Housing Market Ready to Rebound?
Is housing about to enjoy a spring thaw or will it remain in the deep freeze? Some observers are optimistic.

"I think this is the best buyer's market that has existed in a decade, maybe longer," says Russell Shaw, in his 30th year with John Hall & Associates real estate in Phoenix. "There is tons of inventory, great interest rates, and the prices are back in line. If people have a good track record of paying their bills, the loans are there.”

Likewise, Floyd Scott, president of Century 21 Arizona Foothills, which has 10 offices and 460 associates in Phoenix, says: "If I would have described this whole process as a hurricane coming through Phoenix, I would tell everybody that for the last month I've been taking the shutters off the windows because I think the eye of the storm and most of it is behind us. Now we're in the process of picking up the debris."

Others are having trouble seeing beyond the roadblocks.

"We have this continuing battle with tightening lending standards and it's going to be tough for prospective buyers, even though they want the homes — that's going to be an obstacle," says Young Kim, an economist at Stone & McCarthy Research Associates in Princeton, N.J.

Source: Reuters News, Lynn Adler (02/25/08)