The National Association of Realtors reduced its home- sales forecast Tuesday for the ninth time this year and said the housing slump will extend into 2008.
Existing-home sales will fall 8.6 percent in 2007, exceeding the 6.8 percent drop estimated a month ago. New-home sales probably will decline 24 percent on top of an 18 percent fall in 2006, the Chicago-based trade group for 1.3 million real-estate brokers said in a statement.
The two-year housing decline is worsening amid a surge in credit costs and the collapse of more than 100 mortgage companies after defaults by homeowners.
New-home sales won’t reach a bottom until the first quarter of 2008, the organization said. A month ago, the Realtors said the low point would be at the end of this year.
