HOPE AND CHANGE AND RECOVERY SUMMER! Unfortunately, a Bleak Winter Ahead for the Housing Market: Zillow Q3 Real Estate Market Reports. “After some signs of hope last quarter, the Zillow Q3 Real Estate Market Reports brought some grim news. Nationally, home values continued to decline, and several local markets that had been showing strong signs of stabilization took a turn for the worse. . . . U.S. home values continued to decline in the third quarter, falling 4.3 percent year-over-year, and 1.2 percent quarter-over-quarter. With home values 25 percent below their 2006 peak and 17 consecutive quarters of declines, the length and severity of the current downturn is unprecedented since the Great Depression.”

The stimulus pumped a little air into that leaky tire, but now it’s leaked out again.