USC prof thinks housing recovery will be sooner

...Richard Green, the new director of USC's Lusk Center for Real Estate, now believes that prospects for the housing market recovery have improved.
Green, who predicted in October and again on this blog last month that the housing market recovery likely will occur in 2010, now believes that the recovery will begin in 2009 - provided that the financial markets don't melt down first.
The inventory of homes for sale also is dropping, he said, which will help stabilize prices. And the advantages of buying a home over renting have improved from two years ago, making it easier for renters to commit to buying a home. Green agreed also that the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also will help smooth the flow of home loans to potential buyers. (He once worked at Freddie Mac, by the way.)...