Home prices up 20%, but buyers, take heart
Following yesterday’s release of the S&P/Case-Shiller housing data, CNBC sat down with Cliff Draughn, president and CIO of Excelsia Investment Advisors, and Todd Colvin, vice president at MF Global to discuss whether the feared second dip in home prices is a real threat. Colvin said yesterday’s numbers need to be put into seasonal perspective. “We have to remember what time of year it is right now. This is probably the worst time to be selling a house whether the market is in the tank or it’s on the highs,” he noted. Still, he said the housing market has not yet been given enough time to stabilize. Only after “a period of stabilization where we don’t see much housing growth or decline” will we finally begin to see recovery, Colvin said. Draughn, for his part, predicted weak growth and high interest rates — in a stagflation-type environment — moving into 2010.
