U.S. Housing Looks Ready to Rebound – Barrons.com

It hit with the ferocity of an Old Testament plague, wiping out large populations of homeowners in the U.S. Five million of the country’s 76 million mortgage holders have lost their homes to foreclosure or lender-ordered short sales since 2006, and an estimated 14 million more owe more on their homes than their properties are currently worth. In all, some $7.4 trillion in homeowners’ equity has been destroyed, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, and more than two million jobs in the home-building industry disappeared.

At year end 2011, the S&P/Case-Shiller National U.S. Home Price Index fell to a record low, 33.8% below the boom peak level, recorded in 2006’s second quarter. The descent has been all the more hideous in such once-manic markets as Las Vegas, Phoenix and Miami, which, according to the Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Index, have fallen 61%, 55% and 51%, respectively, from their high-water marks.

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via U.S. Housing Looks Ready to Rebound – Barrons.com.