Housing inventory in 29 metro areas across the United States showed an approximate 2.5% increase at the end of March, versus one month prior. At least 18 metro areas showed a 12% YTD increase, the Wall Street Journal reports. As bad as this sounds, it may not be the whole picture. There is a “hidden real estate market,” a whole sea of homes with owners ready — but unable — to sell. So, they have given up and retained ownership of the property or entered the landlording business.

The Christian Science Monitor reports:

“While it’s difficult to say how many houses this might be, housing experts believe the numbers are substantial. The implications of this “shadow inventory” are widespread: the housing market may be slow to come back, affecting everything from when Americans retire to whether they can afford to move to find a new job.”

With the current housing inventory known to exist, it would take 9.9 months at current sales rates to sell it all. That’s just slightly below the 10-month inventory of the early 1990’s. Lowering the price is one of the most common sense tactics for unloading an unwanted home. It is also, however, one of the biggest obstacles sellers face. It is very, very difficult — emotionally, mentally, and often financially — for sellers to voluntarily lower their asking price. And in many cases lately, lowering the asking price doesn’t even help the house sell. Some experts speculate that buyers are waiting out the market, holding out for home prices to fall even further. It’s going to be a long year, indeed.

This afternoon, the Federal Reserve announced the seventh rate cut since it began slashing interest rates last September.  It lowered both the benchmark federal funds rate as well as the discount rate by 25 basis points to 2% and 2.25% respectively.

The Commerce Department also released economic data which showed that GDP had slowed in the first quarter to a 0.6% annual growth rate.  In a press release, the Fed acknowledged the worsening of the economy despite it’s recent efforts.

Recent information indicates that economic activity remains weak. Household and business spending has been subdued and labor markets have softened further. Financial markets remain under considerable stress, and tight credit conditions and the deepening housing contraction are likely to weigh on economic growth over the next few quarters.

In a sign that the credit crisis may be easing somewhat and that inflation remains a concern, it was the smallest rate cut the Fed instituted this year.  While core inflation has slowed recently, energy and food prices have continued to skyrocket.

Some economists have been critical of the Fed for lowering interest rates to the point that short term Treasury yields are now below the rate of inflation which causes a disincentive to saving.  Still, many analysts believe that this will probably be the last rate cut we see for some time unless credit conditions worsen again.

The Fed will most likely wait and see what impact the economic stimulus package has on consumer spending before making any further moves.  Rebate check began going out to households earlier this week.

Back in 1971, Dodge introduced their Demon340, which was a pillared two-door fastback. The Demon came in two trims, but the one we are most interested in here was the 340, which featured, you guessed it… a Chrysler 340 small block worth 275 horsepower and 340 lb-ft of torque at 3200 rpm.

The Demon was set-up nicely with dual exhaust, heavy-duty suspension, stripes, dual scoop hood, rear spoiler, optional hood pins, and devil decals that had religious groups in a tizzy back in the day. You would get all this at the bargain basement price of around $3,000.

If you knock off about 100 horsepower, several hundred pounds (it weighs 2,600 lbs), the pillar roof, smooth out the lines, add about $15 grand to the price tag, and you’ve got yourself the next generation of demon. The new demon comes as one flavor this time, and that’s roadster.

Aiming at the lower-end of the market (obviously, with its remarked base price of $15,000), the new Dodge Demon is once again powered by a formidable Chrysler engine. Albeit not quite the runner that the 340 was, the 2.4 liter still puts out 172 horsepower and 165 lb-ft of torque, which actually if you consider the weight and mated six-speed manual gearbox, you might not actually fair too bad against the original.

The “Roadster with an Attitude”, as Dodge calls it, is also considering plans for a true-to-its-name 300 horsepower turbo version that will be capable of taking-on quite a few of todays performance oriented roadsters, such as the Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky Redline, and Audi TT.

What is very cool about this low-end roadster, is that it might actually be made of carbon fiber body panels, which will not only give it nice rigidity on the road, but reduce its weight considerably. To give it modern flare, the Demon features cat-like (black cat of course!) headlamps, a Viper-ish front grille, squared off wheel wells, and functional rear brake ducts.

Yes, and did we mention possibly just over $15,000 for a base model?

It all sounds so great, but as the saying goes, “Anything that sounds too good to be true…”

First of all, the Dodge Demon will probably be closer to the over $20,000 price range once all the dealer costs have been added in, and foremost there in no real “green light” from Dodge that any of this cool talk is going to ever come to fruition.

All we can do for now is sit back for the next year and see if Dodge is going to put-up or shut-up!