James Ponte/Housing Forecast

Sales rose to an annual rate of 384,000 in June, the Commerce Department reported, up 11 percent from May. * Housing inventory fell to 8.8 months of supply, compared with 9.6 months a year ago. * The rise in sales and the declining inventory is another indication the housing sector, which led the United States into the current recession, may have hit bottom and is starting to rebound. * Despite the encouraging data, the median sale price for a newhome fell to $206,200, down 5.8 percent of the previous month, and down 12 percent from a year ago.

Real Estate and Financial expert James Ponte in Scottsdale is interviewd by LBN host Scott Drake. They discuss the current state of the housing market which Ponte says probably won't start recovering until mid 2011.