Listen
24:30
Southern California’s housing market free-fall continues?
An $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit helped buoy the housing market last year, apparently, but it also lead to a not-too-surprising result now that it’s expired: housing sales in Southern California are down over 20 percent from this time last year, according to new data from DataQuick. Is the housing “adjustment” is now complete, or is this just the latest “bottom” in a long line of declines to come? And, what role should Fannie and Freddie play? Should the U.S. government bail out residential mortgages?
An $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit helped buoy the housing market last year, apparently, but it also lead to a not-too-surprising result now that it’s expired: housing sales in Southern California are down over 20 percent from this time last year, according to new data from DataQuick. Is the housing “adjustment” is now complete, or is this just the latest “bottom” in a long line of declines to come? And, what role should Fannie and Freddie play? Should the U.S. government bail out residential mortgages?
Guest:
Richard Green, Director, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, he’s calling from a meeting in Washington on the future of housing finance