Perhaps you saw Alan Greenspan’s recent comments, here recounted by the Associated Press:
"The economy is obviously going through a significant slowing period, which as best I can tell is more than likely temporary," Greenspan said during a question and answer session at the annual Charles Schwab Impact conference in Washington.
Greenspan said that while the housing market is not out of the woods yet, the current slump may not worsen.
"I think that while we are past most of it there are a lot of negatives … but it is no longer subtracting from the (gross domestic product) growth," the former Fed chairman said.
For the broader economy, Greenspan offered tempered optimism, citing strong profit margins and capital goods data that are "showing some potency."
"It’s hard to envisage those two key factors coming at the beginning of a recession," he said.
Greenspan also touched on the potential adjustment in loan costs for home buyers with nontraditional mortgage products.
While some individual buyers may feel the pinch as their payments rise, Greenspan said those changes were "very unlikely to have a macroeconomic effect."
If Greenspan says it, it must be true! According to Mr. G, the housing market isn’t going to worsen. I hope he’s correct. I also hope he’s correct about the minimal effect that changing loan rates, particularly those adjustable mortgages that are soon to adjust, will have on the market and the overall economy. I tend to concur with this as I believe that most will be able to absorb the higher payments without being too painful to their wallets. Oh it will be painful for some, but as Greenspan predicts, it won’t have "a major macroeconomic effect."
No one knows how the market is going to shake out in New York City but October was a record month for my office of 200+ agents and some big money is getting paid out on the Street (Wall Street that is) this winter.
I am starting to believe , based on curent and near future market conditions, that Manhattan will see less (if any) further decrease in pricing than much of the rest of the country.
