Three top indices of economic health in the U.S. came out with negative reports this month, supporting the notion that the nation’s inventory of available properties — particularly the supply of properties in foreclosure — will remain elevated for at least the immediate future.

According to its latest report released Tuesday, Standard & Poor’s said home prices across the nation continued to fall in April 2008, with prices in all 20 metro areas it studies for the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices showing annual declines. Of those 20 metros, 13 of them posted record annual lows, and 10 of them reported double-digit declines.

“There might be some pockets of improvement, but on an annual basis the overall numbers continue to decline,” said David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P. The biggest decliners were Las Vegas and Miami, with 26.8 percent and 26.7 percent declines respectively. These areas were two of the fastest gainers during the boom of 2004-2005.

Also on Tuesday, The Conference Board released its monthly Consumer Confidence Index report, showing an almost eight point decline between its May measurement (58.1) and its June measurement (50.4) of consumer confidence nationwide.

In the group’s monthly release, Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said, "This month's Consumer Confidence Index is the fifth lowest reading ever. Consumers' assessment of present-day conditions continues to grow more negative and suggests the economy remains stuck in low gear. Perhaps the silver lining to this otherwise dismal report is that Consumer Confidence may be nearing a bottom."

In addition to a general negativity from consumers regarding the present state of the economy, the Board’s monthly Expectations survey concluded that consumers were pessimistic about business conditions improving over the next six months, and their outlook on the labor market was also negative.

Adding more insult to injury, the Commerce Department came out with its May report of new residential home sales on Wednesday, revealing a 2.5 percent decline from the revised number for April, and down 40.3 percent  from a year ago. At the current sales rate the report projects there is a 10.9 month inventory of new homes available.

Considered together, the three reports give further credence to the belief that the nation’s real estate marketplace will not be making a sudden turnaround of fortune anytime soon. And in fact things may have to get worse before they get better.

In the meantime this all portends well for would be homebuyers as well as investors looking for potential bargains in real estate around the country.

The nation’s housing slump, crippled by falling prices and rising inventories of unsold homes, is the worst in a generation and still hasn’t run its full course, according to Harvard University’s annual housing report.

Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies painted a bleak picture of the current housing downturn, claiming that “the nation is in the throes of a housing downturn that is shaping up to be the worst in a generation.”

The study,  the “State of the Nation's Housing 2008,” noted that housing starts, new home sales and existing home sales are at all-time lows since after World War II, while home price declines and foreclosure filings are the worst on record.

A recession followed six of the last seven housing downturns, said Nicolas P. Retsinas, director of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. The report concludes that the high levels of foreclosures will continue to exert downward pressure on housing prices, especially in low-income and minority communities, where subprime loans are heavily concentrated.

“The slump in housing markets has not yet run its full course,” Retsinas said in a news release. “With home prices falling in most metropolitan areas, homeowners are tightening their belts, remodeling less and staying on the sidelines.” 

Are we headed for a recession or are we already there? Send your comment to ForeclosurePulse..

“Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s SUPERMAN!”

So much for old ‘60s TV shows!

In today’s world where foreclosure numbers are running rampant, especially in parts of Florida (where 37,364 properties with foreclosure filings were reported in May), distressed homeowners could use a superhero of their own to help them avoid or stop the foreclosure process.

Into the spotlight steps Shaquille O’Neal. The 15-year NBA superstar who started his career with the Orlando Magic, and who in one of many reincarnations dubbed himself “Superman,” is speeding to the rescue, leaping over government bureaucracy and pledging to help local residents who are facing foreclosure.

Florida posted the second highest foreclosure total and fourth highest foreclosure rate in the nation for May, with one in every 228 households receiving a foreclosure filing during the month. Orange County, which includes Orlando, ranked seventh highest county foreclosure rate in the state for the month, with one in every 188 households receiving a foreclosure filing.

Visiting Orlando City Hall earlier this week, O’Neal told the Orlando Sentinel that, “I want to come in not to kick them out, but to work with them and save them so they can stay in their homes.”

Although exact details have not been released, attorney Mark NeJame explained that Shaq’s plan is basically to buy up the mortgages of distressed Orlando homeowners who have gone into foreclosure due to high interest rates and to sell their homes back to them at lower rates and hope to make a small profit.

Shaq is no stranger to real estate. In 2006 he formed The O’Neal Group looking to develop both commercial and residential projects.

Given that more subprime mortgages are scheduled to reset to higher interest rates in the not so distant future, Shaq may be onto something.

We’d be interested in hearing what your opinion is. Let us know by commenting below.

A non-profit group has launched a program to turn former foreclosures into farmland.

National Public Radio is reporting that the non-profit group Urban Farming requested that Wayne County, Mich., allow it to garden vacant lots from the thousands of foreclosures in the county’s inventory and allow its volunteers to plow and plant them in order to grow fruits and vegetables for needy locals.

Just like it was in 2007, Wayne County has been a hotbed of foreclosure activity in Michigan so far in 2008. In fact it’s had one of the highest county foreclosure rates in the state for a long time. Similar to other parts of the nation’s Rust Belt, the county’s real estate market — particularly Detroit — is suffering. Contributing to the downfall are high unemployment, low home sales volume and deflating home prices.

Taja Seville, founder of Urban Farming, says the gardens cultivated would be left unfenced to allow people to pick their own produce. Any food left over would then be donated to local food banks. The pilot program would start with 20 plots, with the City of Detroit donating the water.

Wayne County Treasurer Raymond Wojtowicz is on board with the 20-plot program, entering into a partnership with the group back in November 2007. Ground was broken on the first “farm” in May.

Urban Farming has been doing this around the country since it was founded in 2005. The properties where the farms are located are left available for sale, but in the meantime the properties are being productive and cared for by group volunteers.

With a population of fewer than 55,000, the Lake Havasu, Ariz., real estate market is still declining.  With our beautiful Lake and hot summers, we are considered a vacation and second home community.

In May 2008, there were 272 new listings, down 1.5 percent from May 2007. There were 134 sold listings in May 2008, down 15.52 percent from May 2007.

I am seeing a rise in foreclosures and short sales far higher than May of 2007.  My last seven sales have all been bank-owned homes, with over 171 contacts from my RealtyTrac source. Of those, 32 buyers are watching the market pretty closely and looking for that bargain of the year.

The other folks are waiting for the market to decline further. Unfortunately, what folks hear in the news, for the most part, does not apply to Lake Havasu; with it being a second home community, people from out of state are not jumping on the buying wagon since their present homes, which are up for sale, are still not selling.

What I have found is the builders are hurting. Since January, I have seen builders giving away their product just to get out from under the declining market and stop the payments on their construction loans. For example, one sale I did 30 days ago, was a brand new 1,700 square foot home, with 3 bedrooms with a motor home garage 55 feet deep. The property was worth $550,000 in 2005, but today sold for $308,000.

Also, I have noticed fewer visitors in Lake Havasu since gas has gone up to $4.00 and higher. Normally, on a holiday weekend, we have so many visitors all of us locals stay away from the Lake with lines a mile long to get on the Lake. This last holiday weekend, however, there was no waiting time at all to get on the Lake.

Right now I am telling my buyers to come on over and pick out a home before everyone realizes the bargains and lines forms on offers forcing prices back up. After 24 year in real estate, I have seen many cycles in our market and I am positive this cycle is good for all. Many of the selling home owners realizing the decline and are electing to rent their homes out until the market goes up. This has created a huge inventory on rentals, pushing down rents. All in all, Lake Havasu is a beautiful place to live with our clear air, beautiful Lake and gorgeous mountains. We all love the small town feeling of friendly neighbors saying hello.

Contact Stacy Coltrin or post comments below.