Single-family home sales up, apartments down

On CNBC recently, Susan Wachter, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Diana Olick of CNBC, and Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, discussed the current housing market. With
current housing statistics indicating that apartment sales are down and single-family home sales are up, Olick said the reasons for the low number of apartment sales are that owners and developers are having trouble financing loans and that
apartment buyers are simply not out there. She noted that many condominiums
are reverting back to being rental buildings, leaving an even larger excess of
supply. And while the housing industry has led the country out of previous
recessions, Wachter said she does not believe that this will be the case this time around. “While
we are seeing a slowing of the decline, a complete economic turnaround is
unlikely and these statistics will be a lagging indicator of recovery,” Wachter
said.