Housing Chartbook: February 2010

What Happens After the Stimulus Ends? Low mortgage rates and incentives for first-time home buyers helped arrest the long slide in home sales, housing starts, and home prices during 2009. Sales of both new and existing homes perked up toward the end of last year and housing prices, as measured by the three most popular indices, stabilized during the second half of the year. New home construction … What Happens After the Stimulus Ends? Low mortgage rates and incentives for first-time home buyers helped arrest the long slide in home sales, housing starts, and home prices during 2009. Sales of both new and existing homes perked up toward the end of last year and housing prices, as measured by the three most popular indices, stabilized during the second half of the year. New home construction also picked up modestly, and a number of homebuilders actually returned to profitability, again with the help of tax refunds from operating-loss carry backs. Foreclosure activity remains high, but lenders, at the urging of government regulators, are making extraordinary efforts to reduce foreclosures and are also showing restraint in unloading foreclosed homes into the already bloated resale market. Thank you for your interest in Wells Fargo’s Economic Commentary by Email. You are receiving this message because you have requested Economic Commentary information and updates sent via email. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please click on the following link to access the Economic Commentary by Email registration page: http://www.wachovia.com/economicsemail.