Housing Rebound Unlikely in '09

If you’ve been waiting for a housing recovery, keep waiting. This March-June, the season when most homes are typically bought and sold, promises to be the worst since the bubble burst in 2006, the New York Times reports. Some 19 million homes—nearly one of every seven nationwide—are vacant, but only 6 million are currently for sale, meaning prices, already down 50% in recent years, are in for a crushing wave of supply.

This week brought yet more bad data for sellers: One in every nine mortgages is delinquent or in foreclosure, and sales of previously owned homes fell at their fastest pace in two years. “You are really looking at a very, very ugly outlook,” said the head of one housing research firm. Prices are likely to keep on falling into 2010. (More housing market stories.)