Posted on 03/24/2006 7:11:18 AM PST by Lunatic Fringe
WASHINGTON - Sales of new homes plunged by the largest amount in nearly nine years in February while the median price of a new home dropped for the fourth straight month, providing fresh evidence that the nation's once-booming housing market is cooling off.
The Commerce Department reported that sales of new single-family homes dropped by 10.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 1.08 million homes. It was the second straight monthly decline and was much bigger than the small 2 percent dip that Wall Street was expecting.
The drop in new home sales followed news Thursday that sales of previously owned homes actually rose by a stronger-than-expected 5.2 percent last month following five straight monthly declines. Analysts said the trend in both reports pointed to a slowing housing market after five record-setting years.
Maybe I wont move 50% of my 401k into REITs after all.
Perhaps everyone was buying exisiting homes:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1601748/posts
So yesterday the headline was:
"Sales of Existing Homes Unexpectantly Rise"
and today the news is
"New Home Sales Plummet."
LOL!
GMTA!
Here's a nice REIT:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=DRE
:-)
go figure
New homes are the first to be sold. Investors are trying to get out, flooding the market with newly built homes.
go figure
New homes are the first to be sold. Investors are trying to get out, flooding the market with newly built homes.
The drop in new home sales followed news Thursday that sales of previously owned homes actually rose by a stronger-than-expected 5.2 percent last month following five straight monthly declines.
When Katrina hit, I predicted that we would see NEW HOME sales stagnate as building costs pushed up prices . . . but that we would also see EXISTING HOME SALES increase, because relatively, existing homes suddenly would be better bargains than newer homes.
Nice to be right. This isn't a "bursting" of any "bubble," it's the natural outcome of higher building prices in the Katrina pipeline which took actually longer than I thought to have its effect.
Wish I had the ability to pick-and-choose. That laptop-losing Fidelity outfit does that for me.
Could lousy weather have something to do with it ?
So many on FR seem to want a "bust" in the housing market.
Could that many people be short REITs or home building stocks? Builders have already tanked.
After the quick-money investors get out, we should be reaching a sweet spot for home sales soon:
Lower prices AND historically low interest rates.
But the question IS... IS THIS STILL NEAR A RECENT RECORD NUMBER?
Same thought came to my mind.
The preyers from the demonRAT party love misery. Only they can save us from the evil capitalists.
Workers of the world, unite. Overthrow the robber barons. Down with bill gates.... errr, wait, I'm so confused.
The SOBs from the msm will trumpet anything as bad news for the evil Bush.
--So many on FR seem to want a "bust" in the housing market.
I'd like to see the professional house flippers in the flop house.
Why? There is a show on cable called "Flip this house" with Richard Davis, it is amazing to watch the transformation they perform. The show gave me ideas I will use to remodel our home.
Those 2 things are NOT divergent.
What that says is folks can't or won't pay the overpriced premium for newer construction... and those that are buying are choosing less expensive existing homes...
When the buyers scale back, the bubble has burst.
Now since brand new construction isn't selling, builders will slash prices.. which mean those that have bought in the last few years will be undercut (in all but the most rapidly appreciating areas) and their newer but used homes will go down even more... many will be underwater. And the downward pressure from above will force a decline and the decline will work its way down through the market.
POP!
No, I think what you are witnessing is a bunch of people who either are modern "gloomsters" (who think, often for religious reasons) that any wealth must be ill-gotten and therefore any economic growth must be "paid for" by a recession; and a bunch of "goldbugs," who are vested in some sort of bust that will increase the value of their gold.
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