VOA常速英语2007-Housing Analysts Pessimistic About US Housing Ma

By Barry Wood
Washington
24 October 2007

Financial experts addressing a home builders conference in Washington Wednesday issued grim forecasts, suggesting that the U.S. housing slump¹ is likely to get worse and continue for at least another year. VOA's Barry Wood has more.

The mortgage finance specialist at the Wells Fargo Bank in Minneapolis, Scott Anderson, says the crisis in the housing sector² is getting worse. He told a National Association of Home Builders conference home prices will continue to fall. "We're going to see major declines in home prices, the likes we haven't seen since the great depression in this country (of the 1930s) over the next year. We're just starting on that process for the declines," he said.

Earlier Wednesday the National Association of Realtors announced that sales of previously³ owned homes fell eight percent in September, a decline twice as steep as had been predicted. Anderson of Wells Fargo Bank says that downward trend will continue. "Home sales are still plunging⁴ in markets where underwriting standards were lax, risk-taking was high, and home prices to income ratios were even higher. Florida and Nevada are seeing the most rapid declines," he said.

America's real estate and home loan market has been in decline for many months. During the sharp run-up in home prices that continued until 2005, mortgage lenders relaxed standards and promoted low interest loans to permit buyers to afford homes whose prices had dramatically risen.

In many cases, buyers did not understand that the low variable interest rates would eventually rise to higher levels, greatly increasing their monthly payments. That is the part of the reason that home loan delinquencies and foreclosures are on the rise.

Frank Nothalf is chief economist⁵ at Freddy Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. "Just between the first six months of 2006 to the first six months of 2007, the number of sub-prime loans entering foreclosure doubled nationwide. And in some markets it was substantially higher," he said.

Subprime loans are loans extended to higher-risk debtors⁶.

Alarmed at the prospect⁷ of so many people losing their homes, Congress is preparing legislation to address the problem.

The Federal Reserve, which had been raising interest rates between 2003 and 2005, cut rates last month. But mortgage interest rates remain more or less unchanged and with credit markets in turmoil⁸ it is now increasingly difficult to obtain a fixed⁹ rate mortgage loan.

1 slump   

n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌

参考例句：

• She is in a slump in her career.她处在事业的低谷。
• Economists are forecasting a slump.经济学家们预言将发生经济衰退。

2 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

3 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

4 plunging   

adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• War broke out again, plunging the people into misery and suffering. 战祸复发，生灵涂炭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He is plunging into an abyss of despair. 他陷入了绝望的深渊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

6 debtors   

n.债务人，借方( debtor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Never in a debtors' prison? 从没有因债务坐过牢么？ 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

7 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

8 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

9 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。