Posted on 03/23/2006 7:10:32 AM PST by SoFloFreeper
BC-APNewsAlert WASHINGTON (AP) -- A real estate trade group reports that sales of existing homes rose by an unexpected 5.2 percent in February as warm weather boosted demand.
Only because Halliburton and the Cocoanut Grove gave Karl Rove money to buy them all.
You can add to your list the short-interest ratio on many real estate related ETFs by the more sophisticated speculators, showing a bet on a decline in housing.
How much is the land alone worth in San Mateo?
How about in Pittsburgh?
That's where hexin-Texan's argument falls apart.
Bush's fault!
Condos doubled in price in about one month last spring because of speculation. There were virtually *no* listings this time last year, so a %900 rise isn't hard to fathom.
We were trying to buy a condo last year, and the routine was to smooth talk the realtors so they would call you with a new listing before it hit the multi-list. Otherwise you had no chance.
There are more condos listed now than comfortable because they went nuts last year. But there are fewer houses in our neighborhood for sale than two years ago.
Considering the fact that in the east and west valleys a wall of new houses are being built along a front of perhaps 5-10 miles wide, progressing a mile or more a year, who cares if sales dropped 24%. We're still adding fantastic numbers of new houses every year. As sales slows, they'll build fewer houses. But the important part is they're still building. We aren't overbuilt, and because we're still growing there's virtually no chance we will be.
All this doom-and-gloom crap is just that.
Growth can stop for several reasons out there. Where does your water come from? What other areas look or will look more attractive than your endless suburbs? How many investors have bought there versus stable owners? I haven't driven around there for a while, but I've flown over and it's butt ugly from the air. I think you suffer from a form of investor's syndrome: "it's different here". In the 1990's it was "different this time". Now some real estate investors look at their own area and make overly optimistic projections mainly because they aren't looking at more desirable areas and are overlooking their area's negatives. On the plus side I think parts of CA and CO look worse, so maybe you'll pick up a few people from those places.
You'd be surprised at how many libs/Dems believe that cutting taxes does not stimulate the economy. Or maybe you wouldn't. Of course these are the same people who believe government creates wealth.
Close.. that happened with jobless claims.
Because roaming around in a snowstorm or having to walk through 4 feet of snow isn't ideal for home shopping.
Because there is a different because misleading and factual which you just seemed to not get in your statement.
The fact is more homes than were expected did sell. What is serving anyone's purpose by this?
You are a bizarre dude, dude.
"BREAKING: HOME SALES UNEXPECTEDLY RISE!" . . . Bogus, Bogus, Bogus !
The truth is that sales perked up a bit nationally after five straight months of repeated down falls. Home sales actually fell over 15% in California and prices declined by over 2.5%:
“Existing-home sales dropped significantly in California in February, falling 15.5 percent from the same period a year ago, as inventory levels climbed and median prices continued to escalate, an industry trade group reported today. Meanwhile, the February 2006 median price of an existing home in the state decreased 2.9 percent compared with January’s $551,300 median price.”“‘Unsold inventory rose again in February to a 6.7 month supply, one of the highest inventory levels in several years,’ said C.A.R. Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young. CAR also released the following regional sales and price comparisons for February: Santa Clara sales dropped 15.3 percent year-to-year. Sales in Santa Cruz County dropped 23.6 percent year-to-year but were up 0.9 percent from January, while the median price declined 2.5 percent to $712,000 from February 2005.”
Source: California home sales plunge 15.5%
Florida also reported declining sales and increasing inventory:
“Rising inventory levels and still-low mortgage rates continued to affect Florida’s housing market, which is adjusting to a better balance between buyers and sellers following a five-year run of record-pace sales. Statewide, sales of single-family existing homes totaled 13,539 in February compared to 16,916 homes a year ago, for a 20 percent decrease.”“Sales of existing condominiums in Florida also decreased last month, with a total of 4,342 condos sold statewide compared to 5,643 in February 2005 for a 23 percent decline.”
Source: MediaLivingNet
What I want to know is why do the MSM simply take reports from the realtors like they were taking notes in a history class? Don't reporters ask questions anymore? The job of media reporters in to report the news objectively. Not simply parrot the realtors association.
(1) The real estate market is pathetic--with appreciation in the last 5 years being 49th out of the 50 states, (oops, 50 out of 51 if you count DC--source USA Today),
(2) Job growth is again near the bottom in the country, and
(3) Indiana is near the TOP, though, in mortgage foreclosures rates in the country (top 5 here!!!--the source for this number is posted in this thread in another posting). Hey, at least they're tops in this category!
No real estate bubble at all in Indiana. No worry at all about it bursting as Hoosiers just keep falling further and further behind--getting relatively poorer and poorer vs. homeowners almost everywhere else.
If sales in California dropped over 15% and 20% in Florida, but nationally there was a 5.2% increase, what where the increases in the other 48 states? That had to be pretty substantial considering the populations of California and Flordia and the size of those housing markets.
Darn it, where's my housing bubble? Why can't property values drop to pennies on the dollar?! It's just not fair.
I think what he probably meant was "keep your hands on yourselves". You were, after all, horny teens.
It is, if you want to get a jump on spring prices.
ROTFL....what about your cherry-picking data and ignoring history? We had 5 straight YEARS of record growth nationally. And all you can point to is a couple of states who had some modest slowdown in sales and one small drop in prices. You cherry-pick data from two states and for 5 months. At least this data is quoting data nationally, much more honest than your bogus arguement.
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