Here's the latest from good little REIC monkey Nicholas Retsinas at Harvard's REIC-corrupted Joint Center for Housing Studies

Home prices in have crashed by the biggest amount since the Great Depression.

There are millions of unsold, still overpriced, unwanted homes.

Foreclosures are rampant.

Congress is running around like monkeys trying to find a way out of the mess.

And yet here's the REIC's good little poodle Nicholas Retsinas, sent out by his REIC masters (i.e. Harvard JCHS sponsors) to pump housing to the all-too-gullible MSM, even after finally admitting to the crash.

Over the horizon, a housing recovery

The current housing market is bleak: home prices and sales are plummeting, foreclosure proceedings are skyrocketing and mortgage rates are on the rise.

When will things be better?

A new study from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, "The State of the Nation's Housing 2008," finds the country poised to see an increase in housing demand over the next decade.

"The good news is that we still have a growing population," said Nicolas Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies and one of the study's authors. "As long as you have more households, more people are going to need places to live."

Some background for HP newbies:

* Many of you will remember when Retsinas stupidly went after HP'ers after we called for his ouster. Retsinas did the classic REIC "blame the messenger" after housing crashed, exposing himself for the bought-and-paid-for REIC hack he is:

"HOUSING BUST AHEAD." The headline hints of catastrophe: a dot-com repeat, a bubble bursting, an economic apocalypse. Cassandra, though, can stop wailing: the expected price corrections mark a slowing in the rate of increase -- not a precipitous decline.

This will not spark a chain reaction that will devastate home owners, builders, and communities. Contradicting another gloomy seer, Chicken Little, the sky is not falling."

- Nicholas Retsinas, mocking HP'ers, September 2006

* Here's the Harvard JCHS's dirty list of REIC masters (since removed from their website)

* And this classic rant from Tim Iacono over at SeekingAlpha:

"Adding to the growing evidence that you can work at Harvard and still be a moron, Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies commented "The fundamental problem with housing is oversupply.''

No, the fundamental problem is that a speculative bubble just burst and now everyone is thinking rationally again - home prices are still too high, potential buyers realized home prices are still too high, lenders are now interested in the borrower actually paying back the home loan, and investors don't want to go near securitized debt."

Could-go-bankrupt Countrywide Toxic Mortgage puts out "now is a great time to buy" spin piece in desperate attempt to stay alive

Nice to see the NAR and Countrywide both putting out disinformation (aka "FACTS") today. The more these two dens of lies and corruption try to spin the market, the more you know the market is tanking.

Here's HP's list of FACTS to balance against Countrywide's:

FACT: Housing is crashing and will continue to crash for years to come
FACT: If you buy a home today you are a fool, and you will get slaughtered
FACT: Countrywide is facing bankruptcy
FACT: Angelo Mozilo is under SEC investigation for insider stock trading
FACT: You are significantly better off renting today than "buying"
FACT: You shouldn't believe anything Countrywide or the NAR says

Countrywide Wants to Help Dispel Home Buying Myths

It's not hard to have questions about today's real estate market -- especially if you're the one considering purchasing your first home or making a move. With all the recent news reports about mortgage lending options, refinancing and interest rates, there is plenty of information floating around. To help provide some clarity, Countrywide Home Loans offers some tips from its nearly 40 years of experience.

FACT: Now may be a great time to shop.
FACT: Most buyers still have a number of mortgage options available to them.
FACT: You can boost your bargaining power by employing time-tested tactics.
FACT: Owning a home offers advantages v. renting.

Jim Cramer goes on Today Show to tell people "don't you dare buy a home - you'll lose money". Hey, nice advice Jimbo. Boo-yah!

Ya think Jimbo will be getting a late-night visit from some "friends" from the NAR? HousingPANIC has gone mainstream. Sell sell sell.

Here's the video

And you just know everyone who works at the Today Show and CNBC "owns" homes and does NOT want this kind of stuff on the air. Instead, they've only got one question on their lips for all guests (pre-scripted): Have we hit bottom?

Nice to have Cramer join the HousingPANIC. And ya gotta believe he's come across this blog a few times. Hey Jimbo - Booyah! Now get your head out of Angelo's ass and talk about what's really going on there...

Post-houisng-bubble regulation: Will the REIC and MSM have to expose conflict of interest in the future?

One good thing that came out of the dot-com collapse is that analysts and media have to expose when they have any potential conflict of interest - stock holdings, investment banking relationships, etc.

Well, as we all know, that doesn't happen today with real estate.

You have people like The Corrupt David Lereah out there cheerleading housing, while speculating in investment condos, having his salary paid by six percenters, and making money off of "housing never goes down" books.

You have Nicholas Retsinas at Harvard's Joint Center for Housing putting out "there is no bubble" statements, when his salary is paid for by the who's-who of the REIC.

You have MSM reporters cheerleading housing because their salaries are paid for by REIC ads, and on a personal level their house is their biggest financial asset (or risk). In other words, their entire career and financial well-being rests on house prices going up.

And you have real estate clerks giving their expert unbiased views to the MSM on how we've "hit bottom" and how "it's a great time to buy or sell", when the only thing standing between them and a lifetime of Top Ramen is getting suckers to believe that it's a great time to buy or sell.

Real Estate and stocks should be treated the exact same way. Anyone with a vested interest in the asset in question should be required by law to expose their potential conflicts.

Until then, the public will continue to be duped, conned, lied to, deceived and crushed.

HousingPANIC full disclosure: I don't own any real estate thank god.

Pretend you're a REALTOR trying to convince a potential homedebtor the time to buy is NOW!

What do you say?

Here's a few for starters:

* The fundamentals don't matter! P/E on homes - faggetaboutit!

* Real estate NEVER goes down - only up up and up!

* You better move fast - this one won't stay on the market long!

* The time to buy is now - it's a buyer's market you know!

* We're just going through a lull - this will be over in a matter of weeks, and then to the moon!

* Real estate is ALWAYS your best investment

* We can get you a loan that'll be less per month than you're paying in rent!

* Interest rates are at an all-time low! It's a GREAT time to buy!

(WARNING - THIS THREAD MAY GET A LITTLE ROUGH - NO KIDS OR REALTORS ALLOWED)