Home prices hit pre-boom levels in 14 US cities

Breitbart ^ | 3/29/11 | ap, ANNA HERRON and DEREK KRAVITZ

[Nachum]

NEW YORK (AP) - Damage from the housing bust is spreading to areas once thought to be immune.

In at least 14 major U.S. metro areas, prices are now at 2003 levels—when the housing bubble was just starting to inflate. Prices will likely fall further this year, making many people reluctant to buy or sell. That would push down sales and prices more.

The depressed housing industry is slowing an economy that has shown strength elsewhere. And it's starting to hurt those who bought years before the housing boom began. In some cities, people who have paid their mortgages for a decade have little or no home equity.

Prices have tumbled in familiar troubled spots, such as Las Vegas, Cleveland and Detroit. But they're also at or near 10-year lows in Denver, Atlanta, Chicago and Minneapolis—cities that weren't as swept up in the housing boom and bust.

"It's been tough on the lower class but it's filtering up," said Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist with Capital Economics. "It may be only a matter of time before it hits the wealthy."

[Seven plus One]

Thank you.

[Nonstatist]

Odds are great that any young couple won't be able to qualify for financing under the current government dictated guidelines (credit rating, depth of credit, down payment, job stability, quality of employment and the crapshoot of the new Government appraisal process).

Ummm. It used to be you had to put 20 % down to buy a house, thats how it is in Canada pretty much. If you can pony up that much you can pretty much get a loan, period. ..

Sorry, but the Ponzi scheme days of house flipping are, rightly, over.

[Rational Thought]

Even with a 20% down payment, getting a loan approval is anything but easy.

I've heard the Canada argument before. But, the US housing market is not the Canadian market and as bad as their Government can be, they don't have Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Andrew Cuomo writing lending rules and procedures.

Regardless of you feeling the housing market was a Ponzi scheme (then, what would you call the Stock Market?), the tremendous amount of equity lost by regular homeowners is bad, not to mention all the industries which are suffering because of the continued declines and the overall effect on the Nations economic health.

I've said it before, as goes the housing market so goes the economy.