US house price fall 'beats Great Depression slide'

Where were all the green shoots from 2009 and 2010?  Didn't government statistics and the mainstream media declare the Great Recession ended in June 2009?  Why are all the "experts" surprised by the latest grim economic news?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/us-house-price-fall-beats-great-depression-slide-2291491.html

The ailing US housing market passed a grim milestone in the first quarter of this year, posting a further deterioration that means the fall in house prices is now greater than that suffered during the Great Depression.

The brief recovery in prices in 2009, spurred by government aid to first-time buyers, has now been entirely snuffed out, and the average American home now costs 33 per cent less than it did at the peak of the housing bubble in 2007. The peak-to-trough fall in house prices in the 1930s Depression was 31 per cent – and prices took 19 years to recover after that downturn.

Home-price index at lowest point since 2006 bust

http://www.mercurynews.com/real-estate-news/ci_18174995

US economic data alarming

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-27/pimco-s-el-erian-says-alarming-data-signals-show-u-s-economy-faltering.html

U.S. economic data are “alarming,” signaling the recovery is losing momentum, Mohamed A. El-Erian, Pacific Investment Management Co.’s chief executive officer, wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post.

Unemployment is high, consumer credit is shrinking and small companies are having trouble obtaining bank lines of credit, wrote El-Erian, who is also co-chief investment officer at Pimco, which runs the world’s largest bond fund. Increased government spending and additional debt purchases from the Federal Reserve are unlikely to spur a rebound, he wrote.

Gee, ya think?

Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York, cut his estimate for growth this quarter to a 2 percent annual pace. As recently as two weeks ago, he projected 4.6 percent.

Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Pierpont Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut, estimates a 2.3 percent rate of expansion, down from a June forecast of 4.1 percent.

These geniuses forecasted over 4% growth earlier? Their clients must be feeling warm and fuzzy on their stellar accuracy.

Meredith Whitney says a double dip in housing is a certainty

Who is Meredith Whitney? She's one of the few banking analysts who foresaw the subprime mortgage crash.

Double dip in housing?

Falling lumber prices could portend weakening housing prices, possibly due to the end of tax credits.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/205086-is-lumber-forecasting-the-next-leg-down-in-housing?source=hp_wc