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As Slump Eases, High-End Homes Linger on Market

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 3, 2009 9:00 AM CDT

(Newser) – It’s a tale of two housing markets out there. While low and mid-priced homes are enjoying a resurgence, high-priced residences are languishing unsold, their prices falling rapidly, the Wall Street Journal reports. “We’re extremely oversupplied,” says a real estate agent in an affluent Illinois town, where just 13 of the 65 homes on the market have sold this year. “Sellers are struggling to realize that we’re back to 2001-02 prices.”

The divide is caused in part by federal policies. First-time buyers get a tax break of $8,000, for example, but only for those making under $75,000. The FHA now backs mortgages, but only below a certain limit. That’s left the high-end market facing high rates, and would-be buyers struggling to sell their current homes. But Washington understands their pain; Tim Geithner is currently renting out his New York home, which failed to sell.

[Images (3)]

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In this July 20, 2008 file photo, signs sit outside an unsold new home in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

In this Feb. 2, 2009 file photo, a DR Horton sign is displayed in front of one of the homebuilder's designer homes in Frisco, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, file)

A sign stands outside a pair of new custom homes that sit unsold in an east Denver neighborhood on Tuesday, May 22, 2007. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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We’re considered either rich people who don’t deserve help or deadbeats who bought too much house. I don’t see Washington prepared to deal with us. - A resident of Kenilworth, Illinois, where the median income is $230,000

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 3 comments

Toon

Aug 3, 2009 3:38 AM CDT

The slump hit the high end last so why are they surprised that it's the last to recover?

DontLikeYou___

Aug 3, 2009 3:27 AM CDT

Let the asshats do what people have done for centuries.... accept responsibility. Obama is a fool for trying to bailout anyone. Say NO to government always and everytime.

Sammy

Aug 3, 2009 2:09 AM CDT

$$$ has flowed in the direction of the "high end" folks and away from the middle class for 2 decades now. I am sorry they are stuck with their McMansions but what goes around comes around. We must give the middle class a break for awhile. It is on their backs that our country was built.

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real estate • housing market • Federal Housing Administration • real estate values • luxury homes • Timothy Geithner • jumbo mortgages

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