Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Is Housing Crisis Going to End by End of 2012?


According to a recent report released by Capital Economics, the housing crisis is expected to end this year. The reason behind this theory is due to banks finally loosing up their credit standards.     

Since the 2008 housing market bubble popped, credit standards have increased leaving many people with little to no chance of obtaining a loan to buy a home.  Before the crisis began, a potential home owner only needs to obtain a credit score of mid to upper 500's.  

Now, many economists home that the housing market crisis will come to an end with the easing of banks’ lending standards and a loosening of credit.

As current sign of improvement is that the banks are loosening their LTV's (loan-to-value ratios). A loan-to-value ratio or LTV ratio shows the amount of a mortgage lien as a percentage of the total appraised value of the home. For instance, if a borrower takes out a loan of $140,000 to buy a home worth $160,000, the LTV ratio is $140,000/$160,000 or 87.5%. Today, banks are showing higher LTV's.

In addition to that, the employment statistics showed continued growth for the third straight month in February as employers added 227,000 new jobs for the whole country.  Unemployment rate in Alaska was last reported at 6.9% - according to the US Federal Reserve. The unemployment rate averaged at 8.0501% from previous years. The national unemployment average is at 8.3%.  This illustrates that the Alaskan economy is outshining other economies impacted by negative housing markets.

With the current job market situation, Americans are beginning to rethink their attitudes about jumping back to the housing market.  With near record low mortgage rates and low current home prices, now is a good time to both buy and sell.  You can check out www.anchoragehomedeals.com for the best deals in Alaska.

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