NAR Backs Away From Its Survey

The National Association of Realtors put out a statement on their web site this morning which seems to reduce the significance of its own survey. Earlier this month the NAR report shocked the real estate scene with this revelation. "The new study, based on two surveys, shows that 23 percent of all homes purchased in 2004 were for investment, while another 13 percent were vacation homes."

But today NAR President Al Mansell said people buy homes for the long-term even if they are investors. "Real estate simply isn't the kind of quick-in, quick-out investment that Wall Street is fond of. It's a tangible asset."

This blog and others have demonstrated that rents don't come close to covering an owners cost, so why would an investor want to hold long term? Anyway, Mr. Mansell should walk down the hall and speak with the NAR chief economist, David Lereah. Mr. Lereah said at the time that in-and-out investing was a sign that real estate had become liquid.

"As an economist, I think that's good...You could never have done that 20 years ago. Real estate was a large, tangible, awkward asset."