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The stalled economy, expiration of homebuyer tax credits, marked-down home prices, stubbornly high unemployment and concerns abo

admin2013-07-02  63
问题     The stalled economy, expiration of homebuyer tax credits, marked-down home prices, stubbornly high unemployment and concerns about a double-dip recession all leave prospective homebuyers wondering if now is the time. Is it time for renters to convert to buyers and for existing owners to grab that dream home on the cheap? Or will housing get even cheaper?

    Buyers who are eyeing condos(分户出售的公寓大厦)and townhomes in particular might want to check out Trulia’s latest rent-vs. -buy index, which tracks 50 of the country’s largest markets. It offers a breakdown on cities that offer the best buying opportunities and those that are still renters’ markets.
    The firm calculates the price-to-rent ratio by comparing the average listing price of a condo or townhome with the average rental rate of two-bedroom apartments and con-dos on Trulia. Basically, the calculation takes the median price of the condo in a market and divides it by the annual rental payments generated on a similar property.
    Nelson says she was particularly surprised that condos in Omaha, Fort Worth and Kansas City were more expensive to own than to rent. She attributes this to lower unemployment rates and affluent families paying up, which kept condo prices up. Some cities avoided the housing bubble, she says, another reason prices have held.
    Still, even if the broad rent-vs. -buy ratio favors renting, prospective buyers should take into account other factors, such as how much prices have fallen from their peak, potential tax advantages and the length of time the buyer plans to live in the property, Nelson cautions. For someone who isn’t looking to flip the property for a quick buck — those days are over, aren’t they? — and plans to stay in a home for 10 years or until they’re hauled off to the grave, buying now could make financial sense even in some of the renters’ markets, she says.
    In recent months, there have been signs that housing may finally be bouncing a-long the bottoms. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller composite home-price index shows prices rose, albeit modestly, for the past few months, and some major lenders, such as Bank of America, GMAC Mortgage and JPMorgan Chase, have put foreclosures on hold in 23 states over record-keeping issues. All of this indicates price declines may stall — at least temporarily.
    But Alex Barron, founder of Housing Research Center LLC, remains bearish(看跌)on buying. He expects prices to fall another 10% to 30% before the sector bottoms out. Inventory has increased since the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit, he notes. Barron speculates that once mortgage rates start ticking up, home prices will likely tumble. "Prices will correct 10% for every one percentage point the mortgage rate goes up," he says.
    Foreclosures are also pressuring prices. Barron notes that bank repossessions totaled 718,000 in the first eight months of 2010, up 23% from the record 584,000 during the same period a year ago. He speculates that once the current foreclosure suspension is lifted, a flood of foreclosures could hit the market. That added supply will likely cause another correction in home prices.
What does the passage mainly talk about?
选项 A、It’s time for prospective buyers to buy houses.
B、Whether it’s time to rent or to buy a house.
C、Several reasons lead the house price to decline.
D、US housing market may have a gloomy future.
答案B
解析 主旨大意题。第一段引出主题——现在是否是买房的时候。第二至第三段介绍了Trulia可以提供租买房的各种数据。第四至第五段讲了在当前租买比更倾向于租房时，Nelson关于人们是否应该买房的建议。第六至第八段介绍了最近房价的变化趋势以及Alex Barron对房价的预期。总结可以看出全文围绕人们当前是否应该买房介绍了各种观点，故[B]项正确。原文给出了关于人们当前是否应该买房的不同观点，并没有说人们应该买房，故[A]项错误。只有第一段和最后两段提到了房价可能下降的原因，[C]项太片面，故排除。原文只是在后半部分预期房价可能会停止下降或Barron认为继续会下降，[D]项也片面，故排除。
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