The housing market, like the overall U.S. economy, continued to sputter in the fourth quarter as the pieces for a predicted recovery sometime in 2010 gradually fall into place. Among the statistics and forecasts released by government agencies, research firms and industry-related trade associations in recent weeks were the following:

HOUSING STARTS & NEW-HOME SALES
New-home production is continuing “at a very low level,” as builders confront the challenges of a credit crunch and other housing issues, the National Association of Home Builders said last month. “Builders are being extremely cautious in their efforts to maintain a modest inventory of new homes for sale,” said Joe Robson, chairman of the Washington, DC-based NAHB, which noted that the housing market is “just embarking on a fragile recovery period.”
“The fact that builders are pulling fewer permits is an indication of the increasing uncertainty about where this market is headed,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. The inventory of new homes on the market continued downward, to the lowest inventory since November 1982, the NAHB said. However, the slower pace of sales kept the month’s supply unchanged at 7.5, the trade association noted.

EXISTING-HOME SALES
Favorable conditions combined with the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers continue to boost existing-home sales, although the market is still “underperforming,” the National Association of Realtors said last month. According to Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Washington, DC-based NAR, much of the recent momentum in the market for resales has been from people responding to the first-time buyer tax credit, recently extended by Congress. First-time home buyers accounted for more than 45% of home sales during the past year, the NAR said. According to Yun, rising sales momentum needs to continue for a few additional quarters in order for the market to achieve a self-sustaining recovery. Despite gains in the stock market, “most of the 75 million home-owning families have more wealth tied to their homes,” he said. “Home values could soon turn consistently positive and help the broad base or middle class families, but we’re not there yet.”