David Lereah, the most discredited economist in world history, finally admits housing crash going to get worse, expects US home values to plummet 20%

No, this is not a joke.

David Lereah, the thoroughly discredited former Chief Cheerleader for the evil National Association of realtors, publisher of the hilarious comedy "Why the Real Estate Boom Will Not Bust", and pinata for this blog among others, has come out of his self-imposed hole.

Hey, a guy has to make a living somehow, right?

So Lereah has these gems in Newsweek - and no, THIS IS NOT A JOKE.

"We're not at the bottom," he says. "[People] want it to be near the bottom, but we're not there yet. The leading indicators are still very bad. Pending home sales are still in bad shape. Mortgage applications are low … There's still supply out there in abundance … This thing is going to get worse before it gets better."

"We're probably going to end up with a 20 percent [decline], but if I'm wrong it will be even more than that"

"I didn't think this would turn into an all-out bursting of a balloon for the whole nation"

"That (lending) got so out of hand, and none of us realized the magnitude of it until it was too late."

Go ahead HP'ers. Destroy this man. Unload with both barrels. Until we get a sincere apology from Lereah for the destruction and pain he's caused, and a complete and total repudiation of his former employer the National Association of Deceptive Used Home Sellers and his replacement stooge Lawrence Yun, he's still fair game.

And for the idiots calling bottom, when the former Chief Housing Cheerleader FINALLY comes out of his hole to admit how horrifically, historically wrong he was, how bad it is, and how bad it's gonna get, any sane person should understand that when it comes to home prices, WE'RE NOWHERE NEAR BOTTOM.

FLASH: GOLDMAN SACHS PREDICTS UNITED STATES HOME PRICES TO COLLAPSE. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

I never thought I'd see the day that a major US investment bank admitted what we've known here at HP for years - that the United States housing market will suffer a historic crash, and the drop from peak to trough will be sickening. Man, has the world gone HousingPANIC?

IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING BUYING A HOME TODAY - DON'T. IF YOU'RE TRYING TO SELL YOUR HOME, CUT THE PRICE, CUT IT FAST AND CUT IT HARD. YOU'LL BE LUCKY TO GET OUT. IF YOU'RE LISTENING TO A REALTOR ON COMMISSION, WELL, THEN YOU'RE SIMPLY A FOOL.

A 15% nationwide decline will be horrific folks. A 30% decline will stun even me. I can't even picture how devastating that will be, for the homedebtors who listened to realtors on commission, and for the American and world economies. Banks will fail. Millions will lose their jobs. Cities will go bankrupt. And the US dollar will collapse.

But I think we all need to get our heads around that number folks. A 30% nationwide decline would mean places like Phoenix, Tampa, San Diego, Vegas, Naples, Boston, DC, Detroit, Sacramento and more will see 50%+ declines, and will not just see recessions, they'll see true 1920's type depressions.

Wow. This is gonna be ugly. Get ready. We predicted it, but now we have to deal with it.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The housing slump has increased the chance of a U.S. recession and will further weaken home prices, Goldman Sachs Group said on Tuesday, cutting its stock recommendations on a slew of companies vulnerable to sluggish growth.

In a grim assessment of the U.S. economy's health, the investment bank said the Federal Reserve will have to cut its lending rate to banks by 1-1/2 percentage points to 3 percent in the next six to nine months to avert a recession.

Home prices will likely decline by 15 percent from their peak. But if the United States enters a recession -- which Goldman expects the economy to narrowly escape -- home prices could fall as much as 30 percent nationwide, it said.

Has the monkey-run Pravda-like National Association of REALTORS(R) completely lost control now?

More Jim Cramer on CNBC yesterday, commenting on the monkey-run NAR asking for a "correction" to his report on the Today Show that if you bought a home today you'd lose money:

"Well that's a good organization (the NAR). You know what they remind me of, that organization that wants a correction (from me)? Pravda when they covered the Kremlin. Occasionally there were disputes. But typically Pravda took the Kremlin line. Occasionally someone got out of line, I didn't see it."

"They've got the whole Denny's Grand Slam on their face. They've got the four-stack"

"The National Association of Realtors is saying now's a good time to buy. That's interesting, cause I think they've said that for, how many years have they been in existence?"