I suppose if I were stuck on a desert island somewhere, I would want to be stuck with a bunch of housing analysts.  If optimism helps you survive, these guys should guarantee it.  How’s this for a strange conclusion: “The worst has passed,” said Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina. “We expect prices to bottom out around the middle of next year and then look for modest price appreciation for the next several years. There is still a tremendous oversupply of homes in most major markets.” Modest price appreciation coexisting with…
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  It was just over a year ago that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed in conservatorship.    Federal officials on Sunday unveiled an extraordinary takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, putting the government in charge of the twin mortgage giants and the $5 trillion in home loans they back. The move, which extends as much as $200 billion in Treasury support to the two companies, marks Washington’s most dramatic attempt yet to shore up the nation’s housing market, which is suffering from record foreclosures and falling prices. The sweeping plan, announced by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and…
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There are all kinds of "experts" out there who are claiming that the housing market has bottomed, stabilized, halted it’s precipitous drop, etc.  So why does Doom remain so "doomish"? UPDATE (10/4, by jm): The good folks at NY City based Multi-Family Investor report (see comment #1 below) that they’ve got the scoop on the Amherst report in their post "Exclusive: How Did She Come Up with Seven Million?" (9/29).  Back during the boom we complained that all the bullish reports out there constantly considered demand [which apparently was going to grow forever] without considering supply, and supply remains the…
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