Well the National Association of Realtors has made another downward revision to their expected home sales for 2007. This one is due to the fallout from the subprime lending problems and the subsequent turmoil in the credit markets.

U.S. home sales will tumble to a five-year low this year as a widening credit crunch reduces the number of buyers who can get mortgages, the National Association of Realtors said today. Sales of previously owned homes probably will fall 6.8 percent to 6.04 million in 2007, the lowest since 5.63 million in 2002, the real estate trade group said today in its monthly forecast, lowering its outlook for the eighth time this year. New-home sales, which account for about 15 percent of the housing market, probably will fall 19 percent to 852,000, a 10- year low, the group said. “Mortgage disruptions will hold back sales over the short term,'' Lawrence Yun, an economist for the association, said in the report.

Again, the direct impact on Maui of these credit issues is difficult to estimate. But the news certainly isn't good and this type of press only further cements in buyers' minds the idea that the are in control.