Posted on 10/20/2011 7:31:39 AM PDT by Free Vulcan
Sales of existing homes fell 3% in September...The National Association of Realtors said sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.91 million, pretty much in line with the 4.9 million consensus. August data were revised higher to 5.06 million from an initially reported 5.03 million...
...The cancellation rate was still high as 18% of real-estate agents reported at least one...Tougher conforming jumbo loan limit rules went into effect in October, and a separate NAR survey of about 1,300 agents in areas that experienced lower loan limits showed that 16% of buyers dropped out of the home buying process.
The median price of homes dropped 3.5% from year-ago levels to $165,400.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
Unexpected?
Even worse, these stats are from the always optimistic NAR.
The term "revised higher" is starting to compete with "unexpected".
It's sort of a reverse pyschology...in a boom market, people were rushing to buy, unwisely, because they they felt prices were going up more, and faster...in a falling market..everyone feels they'll get a better dea by waiting..
A report on the local Houston news last night said housing sales are UP 17% from last year.
until jobs boom,
housing will lag.
The news yesterday was that housing STARTS were up, ie, new houses.
And most of that was multi-unit apartments, not single-family homes.
They interviewed RE agents in homes for sale and house flippers for the report, so it looked like they were talking about housing (re)sales, not STARTS.
Although, in every direction I look, there are new houses being built.
That’s pretty much it, and the new banking laws requiring a proper sized downpayment is going to magnify that. I’m seeing a circular market - people buy from someone only after they’ve sold their home to someone else and on down the line, because only those with enough equity in their previous house are able to afford the next.
Look outside of Texas and tell me how much activity you see.
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