Three snapshots, none of them very pretty.
The first, a close-up, puts some numbers behind all the “for sale” signs in front of homes in just about every neighborhood. As RealtyTrac reports it, there are 1,195 homes listed as in foreclosure in Independence and 463 in Blue Springs. More than half of those are in the hands of banks – not a business banks want to be in. Across Jackson County, the number in foreclosure is just a shade under 8,000.
The second shot is from a little farther off. The Federal Reserve of Kansas City – which tracks economic activity in a swath of the Midwest and Plains from Kansas City to Denver, and Omaha to Oklahoma City – says things are sluggish and might stat that way.
The Fed released a new batch of figures and analysis on Wednesday and found a residential real estate market this summer that was “mixed” with “sales improved modestly and prices continuing to fall.” Home prices are expected to keep dropping. Meanwhile, more people are renting, and the price of that is going up too. Overall, credit is tight, and that’s crimping consumers.
The third shot is with a wide-angle lens. The Fed portrays the Kansas City district as doing a little better than the nation as a whole, which is seeing weak business conditions. Manufacturing nationwide is off – but “improved somewhat” for Kansas City. Demand for home loans nationwide is off – but a little better here.
Still, inflation remains a concern. Even through oil prices have come down for two months, they are substantially higher than they were a year ago, and manufacturers have been passing on higher costs of raw materials. Meanwhile, consumers are skittish.
What’s going on with housing? Blame predatory lenders. Blame homebuyers who got in over their heads. Blame financial services companies that found themselves holding the wrong debts when things soured. Whatever the case, this credit mess is more than a year old, and it’s nowhere near over.
As Phillip Colson of Century 21 All-Star Reality in Blue Springs told The Examiner: “We haven’t seen the bottom of it. I don’t expect it to crest and right itself until 2010.”
