US Realtors Running Scared

Economy

By Ryan McGreal
Published July 10, 2007

With the collapse-in-slow-motion of the US housing industry proceeding apace, it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that real estate agents are getting desperate to move sluggish, overpriced listings.

The Southern California Multiple Listings Service (SoCal MLS) has announced that they will no longer publish the Days on Market (DOM) or Cumulative Days on Market (CDOM) figures for property listings.

In its notification to agents, SoCal MLS writes:

The bottom line is that you, the real estate professional are in the best position to explain to your customer - buyer or seller - what the true DOM figure is and what it means.

To that end, the SoCal MLS BOD, after getting input from MLS Committees and other practitioners, have decided to remove the DOM and CDOM fields from all Client reports.

With the steady escalation in subprime mortgage delinquencies and the financial scaffolding of subprime lenders and byzantine Wall Street securities starting to crumble, it looks as though the already bloated market for resale homes is only going to grow more saturated before this is over (and the market for new homes is no better).

Should we worry that the same exotic and predatory lending practices that got so many American homeowners in over their heads are starting to show up in Canada as well?

As a parting thought, here's a hilarious (as in, "ha ha only serious") graph of bubble psychology from the Irvine Housing Blog.

Click on the image to view full-size (Image credit: Irvine Housing Blog)

Ryan McGreal, the editor of Raise the Hammer, lives in Hamilton with his family and works as a programmer, writer and consultant. Ryan volunteers with Hamilton Light Rail, a citizen group dedicated to bringing light rail transit to Hamilton. Ryan wrote a city affairs column in Hamilton Magazine, and several of his articles have been published in the Hamilton Spectator. His articles have also been published in The Walrus, HuffPost and Behind the Numbers. He maintains a personal website, has been known to share passing thoughts on Twitter and Facebook, and posts the occasional cat photo on Instagram.

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By seancb (registered) - website | Posted July 07, 2007 at 13:07:10

I feel like Hamilton is entering the "Media Attention" section. Better buy now and sell at "Delusion"!

I vote down for offensiveness and up for humour. I cast no votes based on my level of agreement.

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By adrian (registered) | Posted July 10, 2007 at 09:15:26

The Globe and Mail is reporting today that Home Depot is cutting its earnings forecasts because of weakness in the US housing market.

http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/...

"While we expect the housing market to remain challenging for the rest of 2007 and into 2008, we plan to continue our reinvestment plans for the long-term health of our business, understanding that it will put short-term pressure on earnings," Chief Financial Officer Carol Tome said in a statement.

Will the trickle become a flood?

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