JAMES KUNSTLER: Jitters

James Kunstler -- Clusterfuck Nation

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It makes my head hurt to imagine the coming carnage on the real estate scene here. Nation-wide, the latest figures are not reassuring. Even hot markets cool off when evil economic winds blow. According to the California Association of Realtors, sales of existing, single-family detached homes were down 24.1 percent, the highest year-on-year decline since December 1990 when sales dropped 25.2 percent. The National Association of Realtors reports Massachusetts home sales are down 21 percent and listings up 41 percent. In Florida existing home sales are down 19 percent. In Alabama existing home sales down 21 percent and listings up 17 percent. Pennsylvania sales down 17 percent. Minnesota sales down 7 percent and inventory Up 35 percent.

Meanwhile, housing "starts" (under construction) jumped 14.5 percent in January of 2006. Permit approvals were up 6.8 percent. That old dawg, momentum.

House "affordability" reached a 14-year low according the U.S. Department of Commerce. Foreclosures were up 27 percent so far in 2006.

You wonder, finally, how many current homeowners will lose their houses? How many developers will lose the shirts off their backs? How many banks will get stuck with foreclosed property? And how will the United States economy function without a phony-balony real estate bubble market driving it?

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Bushco will borrow another trillion from the Chinese and the Saudis, give the money to the bankers, and pass the bill along to the children and grandchildren of working class families. The people who lost their houses can go live under a bridge.