David Berson Activity Quotations

I was surprised that the sales numbers went up, even with the good weather. It doesn't change our view that the general trend in housing activity is downward.

Fortunately, continued job and income growth and the overall economy growth will help to offset the fall in housing activity that otherwise would occur.

We obviously track the mortgage activity and understand that overall share, but we don't focus on how many homes are being purchased by investors without a mortgage. That could be a more interesting part of the housing picture.

We expect housing activity to drop about 8 percent this year -- it's primarily because of the investors' slowing purchases.