Light at the End of the Tunnel

It seems like all the news about the housing market is doom and gloom. Can’t buy a home, can’t sell a home and no end in sight.

The ever-rational folks at Kiplinger’s want you to know that things will get better…it’s just going to take a while. Like a few years or so. Here are the highlights:

The building boom is bust. New housing won’t increase until the inventory of available homes shrinks. This is because of more strict rules being imposed by lenders, and the high number of foreclosures we’ve seen this year. Expect a slow rebirth in building when the inventory evens out next year.

Give it time. According to the magazine, a fully healthy housing market won’t happen until at least 2011. Home prices will keep falling in areas like Detroit and Cleveland, who are reliant on the auto industry, and New York and Connecticut, where layoffs in the financial sector have made home buying more challenging.

Some markets are perking up already. Houston, Austin, Salt Lake City and Oklahoma City are among the areas where home prices are actually rising. It could be that they just haven’t been hit with as many layoffs and can recover faster.

If you are still in the market to buy a home and are qualified for a loan, you can go ahead and jump back in while prices are low. If you need to get your financial house in order, however, it may be better to keep waiting. [Kiplinger’s]