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December 5, 2007

Americans Say They Want To Buy Homes, But Aren't Actually Doing It

According to the 2007 National Housing Pulse Survey from October, 59 percent of Americans think "now is a good time to buy".

Now reconcile that with these housing-related gems hitting the wires this week:

* Existing Homes Sales dipped to 4.97 million in October, the lowest since 1999
*New Homes Sales counted 728,000, just off its 12-year lows
*The supply of homes on the market is now at 10.8 months

Somewhere, there is a disconnect.

However, you can put me in the camp of "now is a good time to buy". But not for reasons you would expect.

Yes, home values are relatively low and so are mortgage rates. But, with mortgage guidelines getting more airtight with each passing week, I am concerned that even strong credit borrowers will have financing difficulty as soon as six weeks from now.

Now is a good time to buy because getting financing may be too challenging for some people very, very soon.

(Image courtesy: Wall Street Journal Online)