Home prices are at rock-bottom levels and the savvy investor should buy houses now, especially from banks, said billionaire real-estate mogul Donald Trump.
Go to the banks themselves and ask for foreclosed properties, where the best deals will be found, Trump advised.
"I've been telling people to go out and buy a house," Trump told CNBC. "It's a great time to buy a house or lots of housing if you want to be a big investor, and try buying them from the banks because the banks do not want them," he said.
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"The problem with buying a house on a normal basis is the banks are not loaning money. They give you a 40 percent or 50 percent mortgage maybe," Trump said. "If they have the house they want to get rid of it so badly."
"They're fed up with housing, they don't want them, and the only way they will finance them is if you buy them from the bank. If you buy it from Mr. and Mrs. Jones, you will not get financing," Trump added.
Home buyers should resist the temptation to buy from sources other than banks, who will offer the best terms.
The housing sector threw the U.S. economy into the worst downturn since the Great Depression and continues to weigh on its recovery, though the sector appears to show signs of recovery.
Groundbreaking on new homes fell in July. The Commerce Department reported that housing starts dropped 1.1 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 746,000 units.
Still, analysts are optimistic the housing sector is bumping along a bottom and due to recover.
“The housing market is continuing to heal and should be a major part of growth in the quarters ahead," Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors, wrote in a note, according to MarketWatch.
Separately, the government reported that building permits for single-family homes rose 4.5 percent to a 513,000 rate in July.
Some economists view single-family building permits as more important than housing starts.
“Strength in housing permits reinforces the perception that the rebound in housing shows resilience,” said Eric Green, hear of interest-rate research at TD Securities, MarketWatch added.
Editor's Note: The Truth About the Economy — Government Documents Lead to Eerie Conclusion
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