Are things finally turning around for the nation's housing market? It's hard to say for sure: July did see a strong 2.4% rise in newly-built single-family homes and an increase in the sales of existing homes. The Chron even went so far as to describe last month as "a harbinger of an eventual recovery in the dismal real estate market." But economists want to harsh our mellow with a warning that while July has indeed brought with it good news, it followed two months of significant bad news. Home price indexes reported a slower rate of decline in June than in preceding months— a "steady deceleration" for those glass-half-full folks.
· Is the Housing Slump Over? [SF Examiner]
· Record drops in U.S. home prices continue [SF Gate]
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