Housing Prices Bottomed? According to Barry Ritholtz—No Way (XHB, PHM)

Tech Ticker just interviewed Barry Ritholtz, writer of “The Big Picture” and one of the founders of Fusion IQ, an investment research firm, who thinks that housing prices will soon begin a second leg lower.

Mr. Ritholtz said, simply, “We are way off the highs, but we are still about 10% above the historic average.” He noted that that number assumes, on a mean correction basis, that prices do not over-correct to the downside (which typically does occur, in any market).

While he said the Federal Reserve’s mortgage purchases and the government tax-credit for new homebuyers slowed the rate of decline of prices, Mr. Ritholtz noted that, with the end of both of those programs, we are at “the beginning of the second leg down in housing.”

He also noted that, if one were to buy a house in the current market, the general expectation among those sitting and waiting to buy homes is that “if you are going to be there for less than five to ten years, I’m probably going to get hit with a small loss.”

For the full interview, please visit…

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/sorry-but-house-prices-are-still-to...

The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (NYSE: XHB) is currently higher on the session by 0.83%, currently trading at $14.61.

Pulte Group (NYSE: PHM), often considered to best-capitalized, major homebuilder is currently higher on the session by 1.43%, trading at $8.49.