An analyst with Moody’s said today that the US housing crisis is not over and will continue well into 2010.
“I don’t think the housing crisis is over,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody’s Economy.com. “I think we’re going to see another leg down.”
An index measuring November homebuilder confidence came in lower than the median forecast of 45 economists this week. The Commerce Department on Nov. 18 said residential building dropped 11 percent in October to the lowest level since April’s all-time bottom.
“Market conditions in the homebuilding industry are still challenging, characterized by rising foreclosures, high inventory levels of available homes, increasing unemployment, tight credit for homebuyers and weak consumer confidence,” said Donald R. Horton, chairman of D.R. Horton Inc., the nation’s second-largest homebuilder. The company today reported a fourth-quarter loss of $231.9 million on $1 billion in sales, missing analysts’ estimates.
