Lasting Housing Woes Paint a Grim Economic Picture

'The housing market won't hit bottom for months yet. The industry won't turn the corner until midyear at the earliest and probably not until closer to the end of the year. And when the bottom does finally appear, it's likely to stay for a while. An actual upturn will be painfully slow to manifest. Mark Vitner, senior economist with Wachovia Corp., says, "Economists are talking about a bottom late this year, but most people will say things don't feel much better. It will be 2011 or 2012 before we return to conditions that people think are strong." '