This just in this week from The Daily Reckoning newsletter. It's anecdotal, but it's telling:
"But a housing market falls apart slowly. And according to our anecdotal evidence, it is still early...the winds are still getting stronger...and shifting direction.
"'I bought a house in Las Vegas more than a year ago,' an old friend reports. 'At that time, houses in the area were selling for $330,000 to $380,000 approximately...and there were a few for sale. Now, they're almost all for sale...I priced mine at $270,000. Still, no takers. I want to sell the house, of course, but there are some people who really need to sell. That's why I think this housing collapse is just beginning.'
"'I saw another statistic,' said another old friend. 'Half of all the houses for sale in America are empty. In other words, they were speculations. You know that many of those sellers must be very motivated.'
"Last night, back in Paris, we had dinner with a Canadian woman who sold her house in Bethesda, Maryland - a suburb of Washington, D.C. - a year ago:
"'My agent told me that I hit the very top of the market,' she said. 'I have friends who just put their house on the market this summer. They can't get anyone to look at it.'
"Prices have not collapsed. But bids are disappearing. Speculators are laying low. And genuine buyers are waiting...hoping to get a better price later.
"And here comes a bad report from an important housing barometer: housing starts have fallen to a six-year low. With too much inventory already, builders are cutting back as fast as they can.
"Maybe the storm will pass without major damage. But if we were you, dear reader, we'd get out of town."
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