Mortgage & Loan: Greenspan Off Message?

Apparently the National Association Of Realtors was engaging in a bit of irrational exuberance when they used Greenspan's words in their new marketing campaign.

Here's what the Great Obfuscator really thinks about the state of the housing market:

Regarding housing, "we still have a ways to go on the downside, [but] it looks as though the worst is behind us," Greenspan said.

Greenspan notes that a large part of the excess (or "froth" as he once called it) has been taken out of the residential housing market, and while there are still negatives, it's no longer subtracting from GDP growth. It's becoming a smaller negative, and that will take some negative pressure off of the economy.

While this is certainly a positive outlook, it's much more tempered than the all-out "BUY! BUY BUY!" maelstrom the Realtors are trying to hit you with. Perhaps in the twilight of his career and life, the Great Obfuscator's finally realized just how badly his words have been interpreted and abused over the years, and how much of a part he played in that.

We can but hope.

Posted at November 6, 2006 05:31 PM

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Apparently the National Association Of Realtors was engaging in a bit of irrational exuberance when they used Greenspan's words in their new marketing campaign. Here's what the Great Obfuscator really thinks about the state of the housing market: Regarding housing, "we still have a ways to go on the downside, [but] it looks as though the worst is behind us," Greenspan said. The level of unsold single-family units is still high and has a long way to go to lower inventories, he said, adding that the issue is how fast that happens, though it looks "more gradually than very rapidly." (Total housing inventory levels fell 2.4% at the end of September to 3.75 million, according to the National Association of Realtors, representing 7.3 months of supply at the current sales pace.) Greenspan notes that a large part of the excess (or "froth" as he once called it) has been taken out of the residential housing market, and while there are still negatives, it's no longer subtracting from GDP growth. It's becoming a smaller negative, and that will take some negative pressure off of the economy. While this is certainly a positive outlook, it's much more tempered than the all-out "BUY! BUY BUY!" maelstrom the Realtors are trying to hit you with. Perhaps in the twilight of his career and life, the Great Obfuscator's finally realized just how badly his words have been interpreted and abused over the years, and how much of a part he played in that. We can but hope.