Are US house prices about to rise?

[Denny Crane]

US house prices have fallen by a third since 2006.
Whilst US house prices are still falling, sales of new houses are up 10% on the same time last year.
Sales of existing homes, which represent 94% of the US housing market, are at a 10-month high.

Lenders are now apparently approving loans of up to 80% of the purchase price for the first time since 2008.
(and Britain thinks 90% home loan is a problem!)
Potential supply is reduced as the number of homes coming onto the market is falling along with the number of people behind with their mortgage payments.

A quick recovery is unlikely as 25% of US homeowners are in negative equity and 20% have insufficient equity to qualify for a new home loan.

[Denny Crane]

Since the 2006 peak, over $7trillion has been wiped off the value of US real estate assets.

The average house price has fallen 35%, with forced sellers and foreclosures averaging 45% below peak 2006 prices.

Government Sponsored Entities (GSE) such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac account for 80% of the US mortgage market.
The Federal Reserve used QE to buy up GSE debt ahead of government debt.