• Harvard University has released its annual “State of the Nation’s Housing” report.
• The report is issued annually by the university's Joint Center for Housing Studies.
• HousingZone editors gleaned nine key findings in it, led by:
  • Steadier job growth and improving consumer confidence were key to boosting sales of both new and existing homes in 2011.
  • That confidence, coupled with a depletion in inventories of homes for sale, lead economists to believe that home prices may finally bottom out this year.
  • Three conditions will slow the recovery of the for-sale housing market:
    • roughly 2 million loans in foreclosure
    • the 11.1 million homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages
    • the above-normal number of vacant homes on the market

From the article: The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University released its annual State of the Nation’s Housing report this morning. HousingZone editors sifted through the 44-page report to identify the key findings.