Housing Rebound Elusive as Market Fails to Reduce Lost Deposits (Kathleen M. Howley)

  A year after the housing slump began, the spring selling season is off to a rocky start with a glut of unsold properties and buyers.

  March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Scott and Kerry Bingham put down a deposit three weeks ago on a new $321,000 house at Heritage Bay, a development set on a golf course about seven miles from the ocean in Naples, Florida.

  Two days later, they abandoned the deal. Like other prospective new-home purchasers, they were nervous about falling home prices across the country and the prospect their new property could tumble in value.

  ``We don't want to buy if prices are going down,'' said Scott Bingham, 41, an electrician who owns Power Systems Electric LLC in North Andover, Massachusetts. ``At this point, we're in a holding mode. If we wait, we might be able to get closer to the ocean and get a better deal.''

  A year after the housing slump began, the spring selling season is off to a rocky start with a glut of unsold properties and buyers like the Binghams putting off purchases, thwarting any chance of a recovery. The National Association of Home Builders in Washington now expects sales to fall for the sixth consecutive quarter after last month predicting a gain. The biggest stock market rout in four years last week, a jump in subprime mortgage failures and concerns about a possible recession are keeping consumers on edge.

  About 10 percent of subprime loans were more than 60 days delinquent or in foreclosure as of Dec. 31, up from 5.4 percent in May 2005, according to data compiled by Friedman Billings Ramsey Group Inc. of Arlington, Virginia. The rate was the highest in seven years, according to the report.

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