Is the housing market experiencing a double dip? It depends who you ask.The latest data on home prices, including the influential Case-Shiller Index, indicates that values are falling again in almost every market across the nation. Then again, the Commerce Department recently reported that the sales of newly constructed homes rose 17.5 percent in December.
Meanwhile, the Mortgage Bankers Association's numbers on new applications for mortgages show a steady slide.
David Blitzer, chairman of Standard & Poor's Index Committee, told the New York Times that signs of a double dip are pretty clear. "We shouldn't kid ourselves," Blitzer said. "The last few months have been weak."
But Radar Logic's president and CEO, Michael Feder, argued in his debut column for AOL Real Estate earlier this week that cries of a double dip in housing are misleading. Unfortunately, Feder's assessment was even gloomier. "This is not a second leg," he wrote. "Rather it is a continuing deterioration of value which could continue for some years to come."
For more insight on mortgages and refinancing see these AOL Real Estate guides:
- Mortgage Jargon in Simple Terms
-
How to Get a Low Mortgage Rate
- When to Refinance
- Four Ways to Benefit From a Cash-In Refinance
More on AOL Real Estate:
Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.
Find homes for sale in your area.
Find foreclosures in your area.
Get property tax help from our experts.