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 US
Housing Collapse
Since the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market, the
housing situation in the USA has remained volatile.
In his last year in office, President Bush has injected tens of
millions of dollars back into the economy through tax handouts
and rebates – however the construction industry is still
struggling
in certain sectors. Marketing for construction is back on the
agenda as consultants wrestle with new challenges to meet their
business targets.
The crazy frenzy caused by unsafe lending through the sub-
prime mortgage market in the US, and subsequently its collapse,
has caused ripples across the world. Even US mortgage giants
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae both at the heart of the US housing
market, saw their shares plunge to all time lows forcing the US
Treasury to announce that they would shore up the two firms’
finances if necessary making this the biggest stakeholder bailout
in history.
The current problems were foreseen way back in 2005.
Writing in USA Today in November 2005, Adam Shell reported:
“There are signs that the overheated market might finally be
cooling. The Commerce Department, for example, said sales of
new homes in October fell shy of expectations, median prices
declined 5.7%, and the number of new homes for sale shot up to
a record 493,000. Most real estate agents and economists are
not forecasting a real estate collapse, although some
doomsayers say the bursting of the "bubble" is inevitable.”
In June 2007, reporting in the Guardian, Angela Balakrishnan
said: “The US housing market is continuing to deteriorate after a
string of figures today showed a larger-than-expected drop in the
sales of new homes along with a fall in the prices of existing
homes.”
It was in August 2007 that Stock Markets all over the world
started to slide largely due to the cooling off of the American
housing market and huge losses incurred by certain mortgage
lenders. A crash was averted.
Now here's the good news! Even with all these factors in the
melting pot, the potential for building contractors to develop
their
business has never been better – with the right approach to
construction marketing which focusses on 'building relationships',
and the right marketing strategies in place, the industry can and
will flourish.
We must hold our nerve!
Steve Flashman
((This article is copyright but may be
reproduced as long as the copyright owner,
Steve Flashman, is acknowledged as the author and the following
website link is included:
http://www.makingconstructionwork.com) |
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