HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day (for Lawrence Yun and the NAR only)

Mr. Yun,

What exactly is it that makes you think US home sales and prices will rebound next year?

* The record and swelling inventory?
* The worldwide crashing debt markets?
* The millions of REIC losing their jobs?
* The fact that renting is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than "owning"?
* The massive fraud-related demand and prices that will NEVER come back?
* The congressional investigations?
* The disappearance of no-down, no-doc mortgages?
* The looming recession?
* The blowup over at Fannie and Freddie?
* The hundreds of mortgage companies that have failed?
* The tightened lending requirements?
* The complete loss of confidence amongst potential buyers?
* The sea of foreclosures?
* The massive wave of ARM resets
* The destruction of collateralized debt, CDOs and SIVs?
* The loss of buying power of the US dollar?
* The plunging consumer confidence index?

I could go on. But Mr. Yun, please illuminate us. You're the Senior Economist after all, and obviously we have no idea what we're talking about here, since we're just silly little bloggers having fun.

You must know something we don't know Lawrence. Your detailed and sophisticated NAR financial models must be seeing something we can't see. You must think Manias, Panics and Crashes is just a bunch of hooey. Your studies of past manias and crashes must show that there's no relevance today. And you must have 21 great reasons too (the year round golf, right?).

So do tell. Please share with us your detailed financial modeling and statistical evidence that has led you as an economist to your conclusions. The floor is yours.

The market for existing homes is "hitting the low right now" and heading for a "modest recovery" next year, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors said at the group's annual convention here Tuesday.

NAR expects the national median price of existing homes to decline 1.7 percent to $218,200 for this year and hold steady in 2008.

Yun said housing will start to recover next year, if only because people will keep getting married, having babies, changing jobs and retiring, forcing them to buy or sell homes. "The pent-up demand is there," he 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?"

FLASH: Ho-hum.. another day and yet another lowering of the annual home sales forecast by the monkey-run NAR and discredited Lawrence Yun

HP MESSAGE TO THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA - WHY THE F*CK DO YOU EVEN BOTHER QUOTING THESE HACKS ANYMORE? IF YOU DO, AT LEAST MOCK THEM WHEN YOU'RE QUOTING THEM!!!

Good god, seven straight months and seven straight lowerings of their forecast. How many more months will this go on? 10? 20? 50? Idiots. They must be paying Yun a lot to look like such a total fool. Career-ending move Lawrence. Good luck with this disaster on your resume...

Realtors Group Foresees 8.6 Percent Drop in Existing Home Sales in 2007

A trade group for real estate agents on Tuesday lowered its forecast 2007 existing home sales for the seventh-straight month, predicting a drop of 8.6 percent from last year.

Next year, the trade group expects existing home sales to climb to 6.3 million. It forecasts new home sales will fall 24 percent to 801,000 this year and 741,000 next year.

"There's been an unusual hit to home sales, starting in March when subprime problems emerged and more recently when problems spread to jumbo loans, with many potential buyers on the sidelines," said Lawrence Yun, NAR senior economist, in a statement.

Yun said that the jumbo loan market is "beginning to settle"

The association expects existing-home prices to drop 1.7 percent this year to a median price of $218,200, and then to rise 2.2 percent in 2008. The median new-home price is estimated to drop 2.2 percent to $241,100 in 2007, and then increase 1.7 percent next year to $245,100.