June column for Builder & Developer magazine now online

My column for the June issue of Builder & Developer magazine is now posted online.

For this issue, entitled "The 2012 Presidential Candidates on Housing Policy," I wanted to compare what President Obama and presumptive GOP Nominee Mitt Romney have in plan for the housing market.

An excerpt:

After several years of false starts, there finally appear to be more green shoots appearing in the nation’s housing market which indicate a slow yet actual rebound.  Sales of both new and existing homes are on the mend, affordability is at generational highs, and the dreaded tsunami of foreclosures expected to lower prices even further have largely been bought up by investors to re-purpose as rental properties.  Even better, according to Moody’s housing analyst Celia Chen, homeowners will begin to favor newly built homes versus distressed homes which are damaged.

Nonetheless, because the economy remains the top concern of most voters in the 2012 Presidential election, how President Barack Obama and the GOP’s presumptive nominee Mitt Romney influence housing policy is of critical importance to homebuilders and homeowners alike...

So can market forces alone help guide this all-important sector of the U.S. economy to health, or will it continue to need more help?  The answer to that question depends on whom you ask...

To read the entire column, click here.

To read the entire June 2012 issue in digital format, click here.