Homes see first price drop on record - CNN

Homes see first price drop on record - Jan. 24, 2008

This article was found on CNN.com this morning and speaks to the news that many home sellers are dreading. These numbers are important for all participants in the real estate market to understand well. What is even more important is for everyone to look at which factors will lead to a housing "rebound." The very last line of the article is most telling in my mind.

"Hopefully by the end of 2008 or beginning of 2009," [Mike Larson, Weiss Research] added, "supply levels will come down and we'll see some stabilization."

Supply and demand will continue to be the most basic of all factors in our economy. On Tuesday I discussed the "9 Factors Protecting Brookline from Market Collapse" and the most important of them all was supply and demand. The businesses, schools and hospitals which drive housing demand in Brookline specifically are still creating the same level of demand as they always have. The supply has plummeted.

This graph shows us that the available "supply" is down tremendously.

This graph shows us that the number of properties being bought (demand) is up strongly.

There is no analyst that can point to your local market and tell you that supply and demand will fail, for the first time ever, here in Brookline.