Is the Housing Market Leveling Off?

Alan Greenspan says the worst part of the housing market decline may be over:

Greenspan Says 'Worst' May Be Past in U.S. Housing, by Greg Quinn and Scott Lanman, Bloomberg: Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the ''worst may well be over'' for the U.S. housing industry that's suffering its worst downturn in more than a decade.

Greenspan ... pointed to a ''flattening out'' of weekly mortgage applications after they went down ''very dramatically.'' ...

Greenspan's comments may represent a more sanguine view than his successor, Ben S. Bernanke, who said two days ago in Washington that the market is in a ''substantial correction'' that will lop about a percentage point off economic growth in the second half and restrain the expansion next year. ...

Calculated Risk says:

The graph shows the MBA Purchase Index since it's inception in 1990. On a long term scale, I don't see any significant "flattening out".

The graph is here.