In this report from the National Association of Realtors, “existing-home sales were essentially unchanged in July, with increases in the West and Northeast offset by a decline in the Midwest.”

National media outlets, needing to create a more hard cutting story, point to the 0.2% decrease in sales, and parlayed that into the following AP Headline:  “National housing resales drop to a 5-year low pace”.  It’s true that resales are at a 5-year low, but it’s also evident that the market is stabilizing.  Certainly, some sub-markets are still falling, while other sub-markets are already stabilizing, or even increasing.

Further, if we consider the number of people that would buy a home today, but due to the current change in mortgage funding rules, are being declined, the broader market shows clear evidence that it has stabilized. 

Personally, last week I was feeling a little down as a result of the continued negative news from the mortgage industry.  But as I look at my own real estate market, chat with mortgage brokers that are adjusting, and digest the ripple of good news that the fed’s actions have given us, it really isn’t as doom and gloom as the media seems pressed to present.  Doom and gloom sells more newspapers, even when there is no doom and gloom out there.

Also, Catherine Reagor noted today:

A Wisconsin woman arrested for prostitution told police she did it to pay the mortgage on her home.  That’s a mortgage meltdown.

The woman, who lives in Hartland, Wis.,  advertised her services on Craig’s List. Her ad said she charged more to meet someone away from her home.

I sure hope we don’t read more of these types of reports.

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