Mark Vitner, managing director and senior economist at Wells-Fargo Bank
“I think most of the decline in prices is behind us. ... We are in the early stages of recovery and probably doing a little bit better than hobbling along. But it all really depends on where you are. ... I think we are going to see a little bit of improvement this year and a little in 2013, but we are not likely to see lot until 2013 and 2014."
Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow Real Estate Research
“In Atlanta, we’ve got to stabilize home prices before worrying about positive appreciation. And that is slowly happening, just at a much slower pace than anybody would like.”
Dan Forsman, Prudential Georgia Real Estate CEO
“Is this the bottom? We are not sure. But we think it is.”
Forsman noted that the number of foreclosure notices is flattening, new construction is up modestly, and for-sale inventory is down so far that buyers in some places find themselves in bidding wars over choice homes.
Steve Palm, CEO of SmartNumber real estate data firm
“We may have hit a bottom for this year. ... We still have horrible debt, horrible unemployment, the economy is still bad. But if the economy keeps improving housing will keep going up.”
-- Compiled by Christopher Quinn / cquinn@ajc.com
